Little Red Dress
by Cicilicious
Summary: Marinette is tired of pretending like she is two different people and the only person who can understand how she feels is Chat Noir. She decides at last to share her identity with him, ideally in the least dramatic way possible. But how? When the duo are invited as guests of honor to the Mayor's Christmas Masquerade Ball, an opportunity presents itself.
1. Chapter 1

**_In which Marinette wants to let the cat out of the bag._**

 **...**

Marinette was tired of pretending that she was two different people.

She hadn't admitted it out loud to anyone other than her kwami, because Tikki was the only one she could be completely open and honest with. Everyone else, she had to tiptoe around what she said and there were certain things that she couldn't talk about. As Ladybug, she couldn't talk to Chat Noir about anything having to do with Marinette's problems, and as Marinette, she couldn't admit the real reason she was always gone and when she was present, she was exhausted. Not even her parents really knew what she was up to. She knew the reason behind this, but when she really let herself think about it, it was like all the closest people in her life didn't even really know her. Not all of her anyway. She wasn't two people. She was one person.

Pretending that she was two different people was really starting to wear on her. And the only person who could possible understand how she felt was Chat Noir.

He had, on more than one occasion, expressed his desire to know who she was under her mask. At first, she thought it out of the question. What if they did know each other in normal life? She didn't want to risk the possibility of ruining what they had already established by complicating it with real life. And, although she hadn't told him this, there was a part of her that felt that being Ladybug was like an escape from being Marinette. No one knew that Ladybug was actually a clumsy, stuttering high school girl who over thought everything and couldn't even look a cute boy in the eye for more than a few seconds and was constantly embarrassing herself. Ladybug didn't get embarrassed. She was confident and strong, and even if something embarrassing happened, she knew how to laugh at herself and not let it put a damper on her mood. People adored Ladybug, she was hero, a celebrity, someone that people looked up to and depended on. It was almost surreal that that same amazing person, the girl she wished she could be all the time, was indeed her. Being Ladybug was like a dream, and Chat Noir was part of that dream. The last thing she had wanted to do was wake up and realize that real life wasn't that special. Or more realistically, have Chat Noir realize _she_ wasn't that special.

That what she used to think. It took years of leading a double life for her to finally realize that, yes, she _was_ Ladybug. Marinette was every bit as amazing as Ladybug, because she was Ladybug. They were the same person. Marinette was just as good as Ladybug, and Ladybug was just as a mess as Marinette. And that was fine. She had eventually learned to love herself, both sides of herself, amazing Ladybug and clumsy Marinette. They weren't two people, she wasn't two people. They were both her, and she was one person. She had to accept herself as she was, strengths and flaws.

Which brought her back to her current dilemma. She was one person. But nobody else knew that.

"You know..." Tikki had said to her as she got ready for bed one night. "It is entirely up to you, but if you and Chat Noir wanted to share your identities with each other, that would be fine."

She'd be lying if she claimed she hadn't thought about it. When they were younger, she hadn't allowed herself to even consider revealing herself to him, but now as she was in her senior year of high school, she almost anticipated it. They'd fought side by side for years. She figured they would at some point, but when that would be was unclear. She eyed her kwami as she ran a brush through her hair. "Do you think that would be a good idea?"

"Like I said, it's totally up to you." Tikki responded from her place on the desk. "We keep ourselves secret from most of the world. To protect ourselves and our families. But if there is one person who you could share that part of yourself with, it would be him. He has a secret to keep just as you do. You could, if you wanted, keep that secret together." She floated up and over to perch herself on Marinette's shoulder. "There have been Ladybugs and Chat Noirs who've known each other since they began fighting together, and there have been those who never learned each other's secret. There have been some who hated each other, and some who were lovers."

Marinette thought about her kwami's words. It was true. They kept their identities secret to protect their families. Imagine Hawkmoth discovering who she was and then attacking her parents to get to her, or threatening to destroy her home or school unless she surrender her miraculous. What was really there to be lost from sharing her identity with Chat? Chat, who also had to keep his identity secret for the same reason.

She sighed and climbed up to her bed. Chat was one of her very best friends, and she's again be lying if she said that her affection was purely platonic. She'd never admit it out loud, but she had grown fond of him of the years. They were constantly saving each other's lives, how could she not develop an attachment to him? She tried to tell herself it was just a silly crush that would pass, but unfortunately, her feelings stood the test of time. His constant flirting also persisted and certainly didn't help her problem. And some of the comments he made were not exactly innocent. He'd blush and try to speed past what he'd said, but she'd hear him and then notice his skintight catsuit. Thing was, she was unsure if he was serious or if he was just a flirt. He had his serious moments, but as far as flirting went, he was as playful as a kitten.

Another thing that made her doubt his true intentions was the fact that he would flirt with both Ladybug and Marinette, not knowing she was the same person. True, he wouldn't flirt with Marinette with the intensity that he gave Ladybug, but still. He made his surprise visits more frequently, despite her trying to discourage him without outright telling him not to. It was just one of the many reasons that she no longer wanted to keep herself a secret. Which brought up yet another issue.

Adrien. Her feelings for him were as strong as ever and she would chose him over Chat Noir in a heartbeat... or at least that's what she told herself. Truth was, Chat Noir was there and Adrien was just so unobtainable. She had grown closer with him as well over the years, she was able to speak to him now (how sad that that was something to consider an accomplishment), and he considered her a good friend. She enjoyed his company and treasured the time they spent together, alone (which was very rare) and with others. But he only knew one side of her. There was a level that they could never reach without him knowing who she really was. And it was because he didn't know who she really was that she kept him a distance of sorts. They had less boundaries than before, but they weren't "close". Their conversations never really ran too deep, despite the fact that she could see he was trying to know more. She saw it in his eyes when she would change certain subjects that he'd assumed she had no desire to share certain things with him. He'd assume she wasn't interested in getting to know him, or rather, him getting to know her. And for that reason, he kept himself at a distance as well. So she supposed it was partially her own fault that he felt so unobtainable. But she had to keep it that way. If he got too close, she'd want to share everything with him, including her true self. What could she do? She couldn't reveal herself to him as well, could she?

... Could she?

Before she could even ponder that, a whole mess of new questions flooded her mind. Was she actually considering this? How would she do it? Who did she really desire more, Adrien or Chat? Would revealing herself change that? What did she _really_ want?

Tikki saw the conflict on her face, as she had not yet turned off the light by her bed. "What's on your mind, Marinette?"

She sighed. "I don't know, Tikki. I think..." She didn't even know how to finish her sentence. How to put her thought process into words. But if she couldn't be honest with her kwami, then she truly had no one. "I think... I'm tired." She paused before continuing. "I'm tired of pretending that I'm two people. I think maybe I ... maybe it is time to tell Chat."

Tikki smiled up at her charge from her spot snuggled up on her chest. "If that's what you want to do."

"Tikki?"

"Yes?"

"What would happen... if I told Adrien?"

The kwami's smile faltered. "Um..."

The look on her small face made Marinette regret asking. "Nevermind, forget it, I won't-"

"Marinette, don't worry, it's just a question." Tikki assured her. "Your identity is precious. And it is completely your own. It's ultimately up to you to decide what to do with it. If you feel that you want Adrien to know, it's your secret to tell. But... you also have to be responsible for what follows."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Tikki continued. "Say, hypothetically, Adrien doesn't take it that well. Or he lets it slip to someone else. It was your choice to tell him, so now it's you who has to deal with the consequences. I'd like to say I don't think that he would do anything foolish with that information, but I've seen it happen to Ladybugs in the past with men they thought they could trust. There's no telling what could happen. Just... think very hard about it before you decide on anything, okay?"

"Okay..."

Chat Noir and Adrien were the two most important people to her outside her family, even if one or both of them didn't know it. She wanted them both to know. She wanted to be able to be herself, all of herself around both of them. And maybe if she knew who Chat Noir was under his mask, she'd be better able to choose which one of them truly had her heart. Because when it came down to it, there was a whole side of him that she didn't know as well.

She began to compare the two. Chat was loud and erratic and reckless. Adrien was reserved and poised and careful. Chat was shameless. Adrien was shy. Chat tried really hard. Adrien didn't try at all. Chat was open and warm and funny. Adrien was polite and acted like he was hiding something. Chat was confident and sure of himself. Adrien was aloof. Chat would tell you exactly what he thought, Adrien was too nice to be completely honest with someone. Both boys were handsome. Adrien was handsome in a charming way. Chat was handsome in a sexy way. And both of those things were in part based on the way they carried themselves.

They were very different. In themselves, and also in how they each made her feel. Chat made her feel like she would always be safe. Adrien made her feel like she's always have a friend. Chat made her feel hot and bothered. Adrien made her feel light headed and gave her butterflies. Both made her blush, both made her smile. She'd take Adrien home to have dinner with her parents. She'd take Chat home for other reasons. If she lost Adrien, she'd be heartbroken. If she lost Chat, she'd be devastated.

But when it came down to it, both boys were her friends, and past that, Chat was her partner and Adrien was a cute boy in her class. She had reason to believe that Chat _might_ have feelings for her. She had no such ideas from Adrien. Also, she had kissed Chat, despite him not remembering.

She really need not decide on everything tonight. She did want to tell Chat, that she knew. How, she didn't. But she would figure it out, as well as what to do about Adrien, tomorrow. Maybe she'd see him at school and her decision would become clearer.

Getting up in the morning was not a feat that Marinette usually enjoyed, but that morning was especially taxing. She'd continued to think about her dilemma well into the night despite telling herself that she wouldn't. And she awoke to find that her room was colder than when she went to sleep.

The seasons were changing. It was October. It was starting to become the time of year when it would be hot enough for shorts one day and cold enough for a coat the next. And it would probably warm up around midday, but presently, it was freezing. She draped the blanket over her shoulders and wrapped it tightly around herself as she descended the stepped to her room and went about choosing an outfit for the day.

...

The morning, up until arriving in class, had been a blur for Adrien. It was cold that day, and gloomy. Clouds that threatened rain made almost certain that things would not be warming up anytime soon. That was fine though. He liked the cold weather. He pulled the scarf away from his neck as he entered the classroom, where most of his classmates were already present.

Nino offered him a good morning as he took his seat, as did Alya, both dressed for the cold gloomy day. He returned it and noticed that Marinette had yet to join them. Not uncommon, as she was not always the most timely individual. The four of them had become their own little circle of friends, a group if you will. Adrien wasn't sure what it would be called. Just that Nino was his best friend, and Alya and Marinette were their other best friends.

It wasn't until the warning bell sounded that Marinette finally trotted into the room and took her seat behind him. She was clad in a gray knit sweater, black scarf, black leggings, and black boots. Her hair, now grown down to her mid back, was pulled up in a high ponytail. She offered them all a quiet greeting as the final bell chimed and class begun.

The rambling of the teacher went more or less unnoticed by Adrien as he chanced a look over his shoulder and saw Marinette with her chin propped up on her hand, her eyelashes fluttering, clearly struggling to keep awake. He chuckled slightly. Marinette was a mystery to him, not unlike his Lady. For a while, he was almost certain she had a crush on him, but over time he realized that she was keeping him at arms length at best. It seemed like she wanted to be his friend, but then she didn't allow him to know too much about herself, despite his best efforts. He thought he could possibly grow to have feelings for her, if he got to know her better. She was attractive, and she was a sweetheart. He just didn't know that much about her other than what she allowed him to see. There were times when he was feeling down about Ladybug, fearing that she'd never love him and he was just headed for heartbreak, and he thought that maybe he should try to pursue other girls to get over her. He wanted to get to know Marinette, even if just as a friend, but she didn't let that happen, so he abandoned the thought.

He thought that maybe he had been interpreting her actions incorrectly, a very real possibility considering she was one of his first real friends. He tried visiting her as Chat Noir, hoping for a different result, but no such luck. She gave Chat Noir almost the same treatment she gave him. Which was warm and friendly, but also putting up walls that he just couldn't seem to jump over. Actually, she was alot sassier to Chat, acting very much like his Lady did, now that he thought about it. And it was clear that she considered Chat a closer friend than she considered Adrien. Even still, she made it very clear to both sides of him that she was very open to friendship, but you had to be at least a level six friend to unlock her true self, and he was stuck at a level three. For what reason, he hadn't yet discovered. He giggled at his analogy. He also thought that maybe he shouldn't take it personally. Alya told him there were many things about Marinette that she didn't even share with her.

Though he'd abandoned any thoughts of possibly having feelings for Marinette, he wasn't one to say no to having a friend. And besides, Ladybug has succeeded in capturing his whole heart. Since the first time they fought together, he knew she was the one, but he was also certain they should have confessed their identities to each other by now. Plagg told him long ago about past Ladybugs and Chat Noirs, and about how if there was anyone who he could share his identity with, it was her, because her secret was just as precious as his. So what was taking them so long? They'd fought faithfully by each other's side for years, was she still determined to kept her identity a secret from him?

He'd expressed his desire to know who she was under the mask many times before, but each time, not unlike how she responded to his flirting, she acted as if she thought he was joking. In recent years, she had started to flirt back at him. Playfully so, though, like she thought it was all a joke. There were a few times where he tried so hard to get her attention that he made a naughty comment. He'd quickly realize what he had said and try to cover it up, but she'd shoot him a strange look that he was too nervous to try and interpret.

But being Chat Noir gave him the confidence to make such comments. Adrien would never do half the things Chat did. Adrien was the son of a wealthy elite, and he had been trained to act as such. And with that training came a certain meekness. Chat Noir on the other hand could act however he wanted. He wasn't representing anyone, he didn't have to make a good impression for his father. He could be himself. He loved being Chat Noir, he felt free. He had never known how sweet liberation could be before being chosen. He could do what he wanted, say what he wanted, act how he wanted. He could be as nasty or crazy as he wanted.

Chat Noir was the version of himself that Adrien wished he could be all the time, but he knew that wish to be impossible. He'd just have to cherish the time he could spend as Chat, and with that came time with Ladybug. Being Chat was like a dream where the rules of home life didn't apply, and Ladybug was part of that dream. He often mused over who she could be under that mask. He'd give anything for her to extend out of that dream and into his reality. He wondered where she was at that moment, what she was doing, what she really looked like...

The sound of a thump behind him brought him back to reality. He whipped his head around to see Marinette jerk upwards with a startled and dazed expression. He chuckled as he realized she must have slipped off her hand and hit her head on her desk, waking her suddenly.

"Are you okay?" He whispered to her, trying and failing to suppress his chuckles.

She gave him a thumbs up as her other hand rubbed the red spot on her forehead, fingers laced through her long bangs, eyes squeezed shut and her brow furrowed in obvious pain. "Well, I'm awake now." She whispered back. Her eyes fluttered open and her expression relaxed. She met his gaze and smiled at him. "Thanks for asking." She made a heart shape with her fingers innocently before looking up to the blackboard, her expression changing to that of totally confusion as she had no clue where they were in the lesson.

Adrien smiled and turned towards his own blank notes.

...

"Marinette, did you hear what I said?" Alya asked as the class broke for lunch.

"I'd be lying if I said I did." Marinette responded honestly as she packed up her bag. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Girl!" Alya followed her out of the room. "The Mayor's Annual Christmas Ball! It's coming up soon."

Marinette arched an eyebrow. Christmas was still two months away. And the Christmas Ball was something that happened every year and they never went to it. It was mainly for the upper crusts and business tycoons. She'd heard that it really wasn't very fun for people their age. It was always held at the hotel, of course, and was super formal. Adrien had gone before, because of his father, and he'd described it as borderline painful.

Last year, on the same night the Ball had been thrown, Marinette's parents had thrown a much humbler party at the bakery, inviting all their friends and regular customers, as well as all Marinette's classmates. They wore ugly Christmas sweaters, ate cookies and hot chocolate and had a gift exchange. Pictures from both events were posted online, and the Ball looked glamorous, but Adrien's expression in every picture was bored and tired, in complete contrast to the warm and smiling expressions of all the people who'd come to the bakery party. He had later told her that he would have much rather been at her place that night.

"So? We've never gone to that." She said as they descended the stairs. She let out a laugh. "I don't think they'd let us in even if we wanted to go."

"Oh no, you don't want to go to that." Adrien popped up on Alya's other side. "Easily the worst way to spend Christmas, trust me."

"Oh my God, do either of you watch the news?" Alya exclaimed, not really noticing Nino also join them. "Ladybug and Chat Noir are going this year!"

Marinette's first thought was 'Um, no the fuck I'm not.' But she couldn't say that. So she opted for "Says who?"

"Well," Alya set her bag on a bench and fished her tablet out of it. "It's not confirmed, but the Mayor made a big announcement about how he's 'Extending a personal invited to the heroes of Paris to join us at this year's Christmas Ball.'" She quoted the air with her fingers and then handed the tablet to Marinette after she pulled up an article. Adrien peered over her shoulder with an unreadable expression as she looked it over.

The article basically said that he was opening the Ball to the public this year in an effort to increase his steadily dropping popularity (not his exact words, but whoever had written the article mentioned it anyway). You still had to purchase tickets, but they were more reasonably priced than they had been in the past. He'd hoped to attract interest by inviting the famous duo as his honored guests, and was turning it into a masquerade to appeal to a wider crowd.

"So basically, he wants them there for attention...?" Marinette said dryly as she passed the tablet to Adrien, who seemed alittle bit more interested in it than she was.

"I mean, hey, it got my attention!" Alya responded with a smile. "If Ladybug's going, bet your ass I'll be there." Her voice lowered a bit. "Plus, my mom works at the hotel and wants me to go this year anyway."

Even after all this time, Alya was as obsessed with Ladybug as she'd ever been. Marinette decided to file this under 'things to remember to think about later', but in that moment she was hungry, and she knew if she thought about this right now, she'd start acting weird. Perhaps almost as weird as... Adrien was acting? His eyes were glues to the words on the tablet screen and his brows knit together in concentration. Nino was trying to get his attention but he paid his friend no mind.

"Are you going this year, Adrien?" She asked out of genuine curiosity.

"I didn't want to, but..." He started to say, and then quickly stopped. " But, um... I mean, if Ladybug was there, that would be pretty cool, huh?"

"Hey Adrien!" He looked and saw a small gathering of the boys in their class, including Kim, Ivan, Max and Nathaniel. "C'mere for a sec!"

He handed the tablet back to Alya and gave a small bow. "Excuse me, ladies." He approached the guys with Nino following behind him, leaving Alya and Marinette to discuss the event in private.

"C'mon, doesn't a masquerade sound like fun?" Alya insisted. "Even if it is thrown by Chloe's dad."

"It does, but..." Marinette couldn't very well tell Alya exactly what she thought about it for obvious reasons. "But... I don't know, I guess I'd have to know who all was planning on going before I decided if it sounded like fun or not. Just because the mayor wants the public to go, doesn't mean everyone will. I'd hate to waste money only to know, like, three people there."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Alya said. "But really..." She leaned in closer to say in a low voice. "Wouldn't you want to go to a formal event that Adrien was at? Imagine how close you two could get. Imagine him deciding that the whole event was more fun just because you were there." Alya knew that Marinette had put up a wall of sorts between herself and Adrien, she could see it in her interactions with him, but she had misinterpreted it as Marinette's only method of talking to him without getting nervous.

"That does sound nice, but-"

"Out of the way!" Chloe demanded as she barged past, shoving Marinette aside which sent her tumbling over onto her stomach and sliding across the floor, right over to the group of guys from their class. She grumbled, forehead to the floor, as the boys made a small ruckus in surprise.

"Whoa there!"

"Not cool, Chloe!"

"What a bitch..."

"Are you okay, Marinette?"

She hadn't moved from her spot face down on the floor. She heard movement that sounded like someone stooping to help her up and she panicked. Why, she didn't know. Everyone saw her get pushed by Chloe, they knew she hadn't just fallen because she was clumsy, but the embarrassment rose in her face all the same. Without thinking, she rolled over onto her back, crossed her legs and laced her fingers together over her stomach like she just happen to be lounging around.

"Hey. What's up, how's it going? You guys good? You guys having a good day?" She spoke slowly in an attempt to sound as casual as possible. She received many confused looks and a few mutters back that, yes this day was pretty good. "Oh, that's good. Glad you're having a good day."

"That looked like it hurt, are you-?" Adrien tried to offer her his hand to help her up, but she cut him off.

"Actually, I'm, uh..." She fixed her gaze to the ceiling despite the many sets of eyes staring down at her. "I'm... Just taking a break, you know? Sometimes... you just gotta chill." Eyes half lidded, she darted her gaze around for something she could play off of. "And uh... since I'm down here..." She noticed the only thing that was at her level: Their shoes. "Thought I would go ahead and do my routine... shoe inspection." She looked around slowly at all their shoes. "You know, doing a routine... shoe inspection..." She snorted at the ridiculousness of her own words. ".. it's part of my duties as class president... You guys probably didn't know that. And I take my job very seriously, I'm very thorough. I like to look the shoe..." She snorted again and tried to suppress giggles as she locked eyes on Adrien's foot. "I like to look the shoe in the eye."

The lot of them laughed in response. They all had been in the same class for years, they knew her well enough to know that she was trying to cover her embarrassment with a joke. The dark blush on her face could not be more obvious. "Alright," she continued. "Everything looks good, everything checks out. Well done, boys. Guess I'm finished here." She slowly pulled herself up, pausing to put a hand on her hipbone which she had landed on. As she stood, she put two fingers to her eyebrow in a half-hearted salute. "As you were, fellas." She turned and started to walk away, but not without groaning and covering her face with her hand, and the boys chuckled behind her.

"You're a boss, Marinette!" Kim shouted after her.

"Ayyyyyy!" She responded and waved her hand without looking back. She walked up to Alya, who watched the whole thing with wide eyes. Adrien heard her say "My God, are you alright?" and Marinette respond with "Punch me in the face, please." before they both disappeared down the hall.

"Marinette is adorable." Nathaniel said when the girls where out of ear shot.

"Yeah, she cute." Kim noted before turning the conversation back to what they had previously been discussing, which was whether or not this Christmas Ball was worth attending, which is why they wanted Adrien's opinion. He wasn't listening though. Everyone except Chloe had some level of affection for Marinette. Nathaniel had a crush on her. Kim had been her friend for years, as had most of them. Even Nino had once had a thing for her, but he now expressed a sort of brotherly protectiveness of her. If you asked every person in their grade (except Chloe) each of them could tell you a story about a time when Marinette went above and beyond for them. Even Sabrina, though she wouldn't admit it in front of Chloe.

Adrien didn't know how she had figured it out, but Marinette had brought attention to the fact that people only got akumatized when they were at their lowest point, when they felt totally alone, hurt, betrayed, or any kind of despair. She made a point to pay attention to the way people acted and also made a point to let everyone know that if they really felt down in any kind of way, for whatever reason, they could come and talk to her. And they did. Her only request was that if they noticed someone else who seemed like they needed a friend, if they could extend the kindness and help them out.

Her system worked. Well, for the most part anyway. It was impossible for one person to keep every single Parisian from feeling down, but Akuma attacks were fewer and farther in between. They went from a weekly occurrence, to monthly, to sometimes bi-monthly. He was glad that didn't stop Ladybug from wanting to keep city patrols a regular thing.

Hawkmoth, for whatever reason, seemed to pray mainly, but not exclusively, on young people. Marinette had noticed that every single person in their class had been akumatized once. He wasn't sure how she knew that, not all attacks happened at school, and only a fraction of them were reported about on the news. But she was right, and once he thought about it, he realized that only two people in their class had not been akumatized: Himself, and Marinette.

It might just be because of how tired she was in that moment, but the more she thought about it, the more Marinette realized that she wasn't sure if she could handle a big, dramatic reveal. That didn't mean she wanted to abandon the idea, she just thought that the less dramatic, the better. And it was Chat Noir that she wanted to reveal the truth to. How could she do that without making too much of a fuss? And something she hadn't thought too deeply about... who was he under his mask? If she revealed herself to him, he would probably feel that he should do the same to her. But what if he didn't want to? What if, after learning her true identity, he felt differently about her?

And what about Adrien?

She still hadn't decided whether or not she wanted to share that part of herself with him. When she looked at him, all she knew was that she wanted to be closer to him, physically and emotionally. She wanted to break down the walls that she had built up around herself, and they only way she knew to do that was by sharing her true self with him. But Tikki's warning rang through her mind and she decided that, until she was absolutely sure, the answer was no for the time being.

She muttered an uninterested response to something Alya said as she poked her lunch with her fork. They ate in the library that day, both decided not to risk the rain.

"Are you okay?" Alya asked, taking notice of her friend's disinterest. "Are you feeling sick?"

Marinette met her gaze. "No, I just..." She rested her chin in her hand. "I'm just so tired. I was up late thinking about something and didn't get much sleep."

Alya took a bite of her own food. "Sounds important." She said with a mouthful. "Care to share?"

Sharing her secret with Alya was completely out of the question. She ran a blog literally dedicated to unmasking her. She wanted to talk about her dilemma with her best friend, but... due to the nature of it, she just couldn't. She blew a puff of air out through her nose in frustration. This was yet another reason she wished she could blur the line between Ladybug and Marinette.

"I..."

"Hey, ladies!" Nino's voice suddenly rang out as he and Adrien entered the library and approached them, lunches in hand. "Mind if we join you?"

"Uh, sure." Alya answered and then looked back to Marinette with a silent question in her eyes. Marinette mouthed the words _Talk later,_ and Alya nodded.

"Were we interrupting something?" Adrien inquired, taking notice to their silent exchange.

Marinette gave him a half smile. "Not really."

The four of them went back and forth about a number of different topics, like the changing seasons, the upcoming holidays, and the possibility of the Christmas Ball being something worth attending.

"I have a question" Alya said. "I'm curious what you guys think. Do you think Chat Noir and Ladybug would ever reveal their real identities to the public? Like in an interview or on TV or something?"

"No way in Hell."

The three of them eyed Marinette as she answered the question a little too quickly and a little too confidently. Her wide eyes were glued to the table as she realized her error and mentally scrambled to cover her ass.

"Why do you think so?" Alya pressed. She also noticed the intense stare Adrien was sending her way.

"Well..." She started. This was fine, don't panic. Just use facts, there are real reasons why they couldn't do that, just list them. "I mean... they obviously have enemies. If those enemies knew who they really were, it could be dangerous for them or their friends and families."

Alya cocked an eyebrow at her. "I mean, I guess that makes sense, but at the same time, don't you think the public kind of has a right to know whose protecting them?" She looked to Nino, who shrugged, and then to Adrien. "What do you think?"

"I agree with Marinette." He said quickly. "I mean..." His gaze drifted. "I would love to know who Ladybug is under that mask..." He snapped his eyes back to Alya. "But I get why they want to keep it a secret."

Marinette let out a quiet snicker. "You're such a fanboy..."

Adrien quickly responded with an embarrassed grin and put his hands up defensively. "What, she's amazing! Really, who _wouldn't_... I mean, everyone thinks so, not just me!" His sudden stutter made a warm smile spread across Marinette's face and she looked down at the table as she felt a blush rise in her cheeks. Adrien continued. "I'm sure there are tons of guys- I mean, people who want to know Ladybug's identity... A-and Chat Noir too... probably."

Alya nodded. "I just keep thinking that there must be _someone_ who knows who they are. There has to be someone. One of them had to have let it slip by now. How can a person keep something like that a secret for this long?"

"You'd be surprised." Marinette answered. "I mean, shit, we-... _they_ don't even know _each other_ 's identities."

"Where'd you hear that?" Nino asked and all eyes were on her again, with Adrien once again looking very intensely at her. She was quiet for a long moment before she raised her shoulders in a timid shrug.

"Um... C-Chat Noir told me."

Adrien's expressed morphed into one of confusion, his eyes narrowed, one eyebrow raised. His head tilted to the side slightly to further portray his look. Marinette couldn't understand why he looked like he didn't believe her, but she wasn't given a chance to ponder it.

"Really?!" Alya practically shouted. "When did this happen? And why is this the first time I'm hearing about it?!"

"Y-yeah, um..." She shrugged again. "It was... something about..." She put on a look like she was trying to remember, when really she was trying to come up with something. "... I think... he wanted to know who she was, but she... didn't think it was a good idea. She thought that no one should know who they really were, not even them... Or something like that."

She feared she might have talked herself into a corner and could only pray that Alya would accept this information and move on. She couldn't even begin to try and decipher the look Adrien was still giving her.

"But when?!" Alya persisted, practically jumping out of her seat. "When did you talk to him?!"

"I... uh..."

She was startled by the bell that noted that lunch break was almost over. She made an over exaggerated fuss of realizing she still had to finish eating and then stuffing the food into her mouth, clearing avoiding eye contact with anyone. She quickly gathered her things and made a few indistinguishable hums, mouth still full, and they could only assume she was trying to say they should get back to class. She didn't wait for an answer before she trotted out of the library with Alya at her heels, leaving Adrien and Nino to exchange confused looks.

...

The only way to placate Alya was promise that they would talk about it right after school, which gave Marinette until then to come up with a story that would satisfy her curiosity without revealing too much. She so wished she could just tell her friend the truth, but... she should just start with Chat Noir and worry about the rest later.

She could just tell an edited version of the truth... She knew Chat Noir wanted to know who Ladybug was because he had indeed told her. He told Ladybug, which was her. So it technically wasn't a lie. And Chat had visited her before as Marinette, it was entirely possible that during one of those visits, he could've mentioned it to her. It's not like anyone would know she was lying about that. But then she'd have to tell Alya that Chat visited her, a topic she hadn't shared because she was afraid of this very reaction.

It's not like it was something that happened all the time, but it did happen. Maybe once... or twice... every so often. She noticed it was always when they had fought an akuma during or close to night time and he hadn't had to use his cataclysm. She'd bid him farewell as Ladybug, make it home before her transformation dropped, and within an hour or so, he'd come to her house, claiming he was "Just in the neighborhood and wanted to know if she was still up and minded some company", and then he'd stay until she kicked him out. She was sure, after realizing his habits, he'd somehow realize she was Ladybug. Like after a fight ended, he'd go straight to her house and catch her, but it was always alittle bit later that he'd visit. She wondered what he did during the time in between, but she couldn't ask without giving herself away.

As she pondered over all this, she caught glimpses of Adrien peering at her from over his shoulder. He seemed to be just as deep in thought, but over what, she'd no clue.

 _How the Hell could she possibly know all that?_ Kept repeating in Adrien's head. It would be one thing if she was just saying random things and claiming to be close to a superhero, like some other people did, but everything she had said was true. He thought back to her uncanny knowledge of akumas and akuma attacks. She clearly knew more than she let on. The fact that he and Ladybug didn't know each other's identities wasn't public knowledge, as far as he knew, there was no way she could've known that, let alone the reason why. And when she said Chat Noir told her? He knew that was a lie because he had told her no such thing.

He, as Chat, had told her only a handful of things about himself and Ladybug, the bulk of which being him lamenting about his love for his spotted partner. When he visited her, he always wanted to know about her, not talk about himself. And honestly, he would visit her when he wasn't quite ready to go home after a battle. He'd jump rooftops for awhile, just killing time, and he'd just end up at her place. Marinette was a private person, so they didn't really talk about personal things. But she obviously knew something about him and Ladybug. He knew that she and Ladybug knew each other, but he didn't know how well. Maybe they were friends, but then why would she claim to get the information from him? If Ladybug told her that, she could've just said that.

As he chanced a look back at her, she looked just as deep in thought as he was. He watched, pretending to look out the window but with his eyes glancing back at her, as she brought the tips of her fingers together and then pressed her hands until her fingers bent back and her knuckles cracked. She then went around and cracked each individual knuckle of her first joint, and then the second. She then brought her hands apart and rolled her wrists, and he heard them crack as well. After that, she interlaced her fingers together and stretched her arms over her head, leaning back and arching her torso in a full stretch.

She either didn't notice him looking at her, or didn't care. She sighed heavily and leaned her chin on her hand. Her gaze was fixed in the direction of her notebook, but she didn't seem to be focusing on anything. Her eyes gave Adrien the impression that she was having some kind of inner conflict. He wondered if she was thinking about how much she had said about Ladybug. Back in the library, she clearly knew she'd said too much, which was the reason she made such a dramatic exit.

Maybe Chat Noir should ask her about it later.

The end of the day came almost too quickly. Marinette was no closer to knowing what she was going to tell Alya. She wasn't good at making things up on the spot, but at the same time, she thought maybe just simply telling her edited version of the truth would be good enough.

Then why was her chest so tight?

As her classmates packed up their bags around her, Marinette didn't move or look up from her desk. She could feel Alya staring at her anxiously, and she was even more thrown off to see Adrien also take his time packing up, as if also waiting for her. She could tell he was also at least a little bit interested in hearing the story too.

She didn't want to talk about any of this. She regretting saying anything, she should've just kept her mouth shut. She felt the anxiety rise up in her chest and throat. Alya wouldn't be satisfied with a simply answer, she never was. She loved her to death, but the girl was born to be a journalist: she was nosey and persistent.

"Okay, school's over, I wanna hear all about this visit with Chat Noir!" Alya was practically bouncing as she turned her whole attention toward Marinette.

Marinette wanted to blur the line between herself and Ladybug, but not like this. So of course, in typical Marinette fashion, she would do the first thing that popped into her head: she'd make an excuse and bail.

She spoke in a low voice. "How about you come over to my place later? And we can talk about it then." She stared Alya in the eyes, and then quickly darted her gaze to Adrien and Nino who were just standing up from their seats, and then back to Alya in an attempt to communicate to her that she didn't want them present for said conversation.

Alya took the bait. "Ahhhh, okay." She said with a wink in an equally low voice. The boys lingered by their desk and seemed to be waiting to see if the four of them would exit together. Alya stood and joined them as Marinette remained in her seat.

"I'll catch up with you guys later." She said as she still made no move to stand up. The classroom was practically empty with the last remaining students filing out. She locked eyes with Alya and added "I'll text you later."

Alya gave her a thumbs up and then a wave. "Alright, girl, I'll see ya!" She smiled knowingly and gave her another wink before exiting the classroom, Nino at her side.

Adrien lingered at the door, however. He looked back at her and their gazes met. Neither spoke. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he remained silent. After a few moments, Marinette smiled warmly at him and offered him a shy wave. "See you tomorrow." She said softly.

His shoulders sunk ever so slightly as he seemed to decide against saying whatever he was going to say. "Yeah," he responded. "See ya." He lingered a moment more before he too exited the room, leaving Marinette alone.

She let out a long breath she didn't know she'd been holding and slumped back in her chair. She reached down into her bag and pulled out the coin purse Tikki hid in.

"You know, Marinette, the truth really isn't that incriminating." The red sprite said. "Chat Noir does visit you all the time! That has nothing to do with you being Ladybug, so why not just tell the truth?"

Tikki had been with her, right by her side literally all day, every day, well long enough to know exactly how Marinette's mind worked. She knew all about how easily panicked she was and how much she tended to over think things. Marinette need not even tell her what she was worried about, Tikki knew.

"I know you're right, I just... panicked." Marinette had been worried that the kwami might be upset with her for saying too much, but if she was, she didn't express it. "I should've just kept my mouth shut..."

"You did nothing wrong," Tikki interrupted her and floated up to her eye level. "There's nothing wrong with talking about the superheroes of Paris, lots of people do it. I think you might be over thinking it, Marinette."

"Maybe you're right."

"I am right." The kwami sat herself in Marinette's open hand. "And did you notice Adrien staring at you?"

"Yeah, he was giving me weird looks in the library-"

"No, during class!"

Marinette cocked an eyebrow because she had not. She felt like she would've noticed her ultra-crush staring at her. Had she been that wrapped up in her own over thinking?

"The weird looks started when you mentioned Chat Noir." Tikki continued. "And he kept looking back at you during class. I think he's jealous."

"Jealous of Chat Noir?" That seemed unlikely to her, but clearly she was not good at picking up hints from cute boys. Or interpreting their words or actions. She was clueless, that's what she was, and she knew it.

"Yes! How else do you explain the way he was looking at you?" Tikki said excitedly.

"Um... that he thought I was lying? That's kind of what I thought he was thinking..."

"Oh, Marinette." The kwami smiled affectionately at her. Marinette supposed she might be right. There really wasn't any way Adrien could've known she was lying. The only person who would know it was a lie was Chat himself. And he wasn't there, so...

She let out a mixture of a sigh and a groan. "You know what, I don't want to think about this anymore. I think I just want to clear my head and deal with all this later." She rose to her feet and the sprite floated up sit on her shoulder. "I think I did make up my mind about one thing though. I want to tell Chat Noir the truth."

...

Alya, Nino and Adrien were still outside in front of the school. Mainly Nino and Alya talking about something and Adrien just not really wanting to leave yet. A part of him wondered if they wanted him to leave them alone (there was something going on between them, but they had yet to label it). Another part of him kind of hoped that he would catch Marinette before he left, even though he didn't know what he would say.

"Oh my God, look!" Alya suddenly shouted and pointed enthusiastically over to a nearby building.

Adrien looked where she was pointing and his heart skipped a beat at the sight of Ladybug racing along the rooftop, a red blur against the gray sky. She leapt into the air, threw her yo-yo and swung out of view. There was no commotion, no screams, no sign of danger, but even still, Adrien muttered something about going back in side to get something from his locker and he left his friends.

He ran through the school and right out the back door, checked to make sure their was no one around, and then transformed himself, ignoring Plagg's complains about what was the fuss over. He launched himself onto the roof and headed in the direction His Lady had been going.

He was almost certain there was no danger, but he would use that excuse. She could be roof hopping for any reason, he did it sometimes just because it was fun. But he felt compelled and obligated to join her. That wasn't true, he wanted to see her just because he wanted to, there was no other reason. And he wouldn't pass up the opportunity.

It didn't take him long to catch up with her, as she seemed to have slowed down. When he landed on the roof of the building she was on, she was standing on the opposite side, her back was to him. She seemed to be looking out over the city and thinking about something. Her index finger was to her lips in a contemplative fashion, and he noticed she had her hair in a high ponytail, her bangs swaying gently in the high breeze.

Adrien hadn't thought it through, but Chat Noir knew exactly what he wanted to do.

As quietly as he could, he sauntered up to her until he stood directly behind her. Although it seemed like he could've had bells on his shoes and she still wouldn't have noticed him. He leaned in slowly and blew a hot breath of air right behind her ear and said, "Miss me, Milady?"

As expected, she shrieked and jerked to the side, and he chuckled as his hand shot out to grab her wrist to prevent her from stumbling over. "Chat Noir..." She said, annoyance dripping from her voice.

But as she continued to look at him, as he wore an amused smile, her expression softened until the corner of her lips curled upward. Finally, she huffed and said, "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you that, Milady." He winked. He still had a hold on her wrist, and he brought her hand up to his mouth and pressed his lips against it, eyes locked with her's. And to his surprise, she let him. "I saw you jumping around and wondered if there was an akuma." He didn't let go of her hand, still holding it up to his mouth, and she didn't pull it away. "But it doesn't look like there is one."

She was staring at him intensely. Her smile dropped, but her expression was curious, eyes fully open, head tilted down slightly. She said nothing, just stared. Her eyes burned into him, locked with his. He felt small under her gaze, like she could see his very soul. Her irises were like bright blue fireworks against a dark blue night sky. The longer he looked into them, the more he could swear he saw them dancing. His chest felt tight and his breath caught in his throat.

She slowly and gently pulled her hand from his, but then lightly brushed the stray hairs away from his eyes with the back of her knuckles, the tips of her fingers lightly trailing down the side of his face. His eyes widened and he said nothing for fear that she would pull away. He was embarrassed when his breath noticeably hitched and a small smile appeared on her face. What she was doing was so light and simply, why was it enlisting such a strong reaction from him?

She rested her hand on his cheek and dragged the tip of her index finger lightly along the bottom of his mask, starting next to his nose and going all the way back to his hairline. The feeling of her gloved fingers on his skin sent a spark of electricity through him, the energy converging in his chest, where his heart pounded against his ribcage the longer he stared into her ever observant gaze. He feared that in that moment, his mask would falter and fall off. Or she would try to pull it off.

He realized that his own hands were just hovering dumbly between them, but he didn't know what else to do with them. His face felt hot. He found himself anxiously wanting to know what she planned to do next.

She brushed her fingers down his cheek once more before placing her thumb just above his top lip. His lips were parted slightly and she gently dragged her thumb down over them, pulling his bottom lip slightly.

She hummed and pulled away, despite him reaching out for her, and turned and took a few steps towards the edge of the roof. Her back to him now, he took the opportunity to release the breath he didn't know he was holding.

"There is no akuma." Ladybug said finally, turning to look at him over her shoulder, a warm smile on her face as if nothing had happened. "I was just taking the quick route home."

He stared at her, mouth agape, shoulders hunched, and he realized he was panting. He quickly composed himself and smiled at her, and though tried to appear confident, he couldn't mask the nervous look in his eyes.

"Well, since I caught you, Milady," He prayed his voice would come out strong, and to his relief, it did. "Did you hear that we've been invited to the Mayor's Christmas Ball this year?"

"Oh... yes, I did." Ladybug turned to face him fully again. She hadn't thought about that since Chloe pushed her earlier. She'd told herself she'd think about it later, so it was probably a good thing Chat was here to talk about it. "Are you going to go?"

"I don't know," he said and took a step toward her, his usual cocky grin on his face. " _Are we_?"

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Beg pardon?"

He laughed and bowed deeply before her, one hand on his chest, the other extended out to his side in a grand gesture. "It would be my privilege and delight to escort you to the ball this Christmas, Milady." He looked up at her with what she could only describe as the most precious expression. It was a mixture of confidence and pleading. "Would you do me this great honor and be my date? You would be making me the happiest feline in all of France-"

"Oh, come now, there's no need to grovel." She said playfully. "Of course, _mon cher_ , I would love to."

He looked up at her, face suddenly blank, with wide eyes and red cheeks. "Really?"

She was equally taken aback by his response. "Um... yes?" Her brows knit together and she smiled. "What did you expect me to say?"

"No." He said blandly and rose up from his bow. "I expected you to say no."

This seemed to confuse her more. "Really?" She paused as if waiting for an answer, and then added, "Why?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't know what to say. The real reason was 'Because I really wanted you to say yes but I also was expecting rejection because I've spent literally years trying to put the moves on you and you always think I'm joking but I'm not', but that was too embarrassing.

Ladybug giggled and his blush deepened. "Oh, c'mon Chaton," she took a step towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We're partners. And we were both invited 'as honored guests'." She quoted the air with her fingers. "Why _wouldn't_ we go together?"

She noticed him deflate slightly at her words. The truth was the idea of going with him made her chest swell in excitement. The idea of the two of them together, in formal attire, dancing all night... The hand that was on his shoulder slid upwards and laced into his hair. "Besides, there's no one I'd rather go with than you."

A goofy smile spread across his face and his eyes lit up. She felt her own face heat up and without thinking about it, she leaned in and pressed her lips against his cheek. She heard him take a sharp breath in surprise, his shoulders tensed up.

Her lips lingered a tad longer than they needed to, and even after she pulled them off his skin, she still lingered. She could feel his uneven breath against her ear, and she imagined what it would feel like if she stayed that close just a little longer.

Unlike his, her breathing was soft, unaffected by the proximity. He felt a hot breath against his jaw and he shut his eyes. Even if she pulled away immediately after, he resolved in that moment, he was going to remember what this felt like.

She felt his fingers twitch against her waist, like he wanted to grab hold but didn't know if he could. She also noticed his previously wide eyes slip shut, and she decided to stay alittle longer.

Vision gone, he focused on her hand in his hair and her breath on his face. He breathed in her scent. Vanilla. He felt the tip of her nose, cold from the chilly day, ghost down his cheek, almost following the line of his mask as her fingers had done, towards his mouth. He breath hitched again and he wondered if her lips were seeking his. He opened his eyes just a sliver just as her lips once again connected to his skin, this time against his jaw, and he couldn't help the small noise that escaped him.

She pulled away alittle too quickly and offered a friendly smile to hide her embarrassment. That second kiss... She hadn't meant to do that. The energy between them was charged. They both felt it. It was heavy with the feeling and knowledge that this was going somewhere...

"You know it's formal, right?" She asked in an attempt to speed past what just happened.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, he nodded. "Of course." He smiled and wiggled his eyebrows at her. "If you think I look good in a catsuit, you should see me in a tux."

She retracted her hand from him, but he caught it and once again pressed his lips to her knuckles, winking as he did so. He didn't miss the red tint of her cheeks peeking out from behind her mask.

She turned away from him, shoulder raised up to hide her face. She pulled her hand back and took her yo-yo from her hip. " _Au revoir, Chaton_." She leapt from the building before anything else could be said, leaving a red faced Chat Noir, flustered and practically bursting at the seams.

…

 **I posted a few sneak peaks of this story on my tumblr and the feedback was very positive and encouraging. Thank you! This story has been my baby for a long time now, and I figured it was finally time to post it.**

 **New chapters coming soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**_In which Marinette has an idea and Adrien is a little desperate._**

 ** _…_**

Chat didn't know what to think. She had never done anything like that before. She'd never been so affectionate, she'd never looked at him like that. She'd flirted with him before, but she did so playfully, innocently. One would have to be an idiot to think that all _that_ was just a friendly gesture. He landed on the sidewalk just around the corner from his home, detransformed, and made his way toward the building.

He kept replaying the event in his mind, wondering if maybe he'd imagined it all. It had just happened, yet it was so clearly something out of one of his dreams that he was already doubting his own memory.

"Plagg..."

The kwami peeked out of his spot in Adrien's breast pocket, grumbling and complaining of hunger. "What?"

"That..." He needed to confirm with someone that he hadn't dreamt it all. "That all really just happened, right?"

Plagg seemed uninterested but responded. "You mean your masked Lady-Love giving you bedroom eyes as she ravished your face with her hands and mouth?" His voice was as uninterested as his expression. "Yes, that happened."

It was a rare day indeed when he had no lessons or photo shoots or anything at all scheduled for after school. He was especially grateful this day, as it allowed him to enter his home, offer a greeting to Natalie who returned it dryly, head up to his room, throw his bag down and not care where it landed, retrieve cheese for his kwami, bury his face in a pillow and then scream at the top of his lungs.

When he felt his frustration had been justly expressed, he flopped down on his back and stare at the ceiling as raindrops began to patter against the window for the second time that day.

"Feel better?"

He didn't answer the kwami. He just closed his eyes and brought a hand up to his own face. He tried to recreate the feeling of Ladybug's fingers on his skin using his own hand. He retraced all the places she had touched, imagining it was her hand at work.

In hindsight, he should've kissed her. There was a moment there, he could still feel it, where a real kiss could've happened. It was right after she pulled away after she kissed his jaw. He really thought, and hoped, that she was going to kiss his mouth once her lips started trailing down his cheek. The air had been thick with something. Anticipation, anxiety, excitement. If he were to kiss her, that would've been the moment to do it.

He reached back and ran his fingers through his hair, as she had down, and brushed his two fingers of the other hand against his jaw where her lips were, trying to imitate the feeling. He let out a dreamy sigh.

"If you're going to touch yourself, just give me a heads up and I'll see myself out."

Marinette returned home to realize she had 2 missed calls and a text message from Alya, telling her that she couldn't come over tonight and she should check her LadyBlog as soon as she could.

Kissing both her parents, she entered her room and sat herself in front of the computer, pulling up said blog.

The first thing that popped up was a still image of a video of Chat Noir with his arm around Alya's shoulders, holding and pointing the camera towards himself, with an excited expression on his face. She rolled her eyes and groaned, already annoyed by what he'd done, even though she hadn't seen it yet. She clicked play.

The video started with Alya filming herself, Nino in the background, talking about how they'd just seen Ladybug roof jumping when suddenly, there was a shout from above them. The camera panned up to a streetlight that Chat Noir was perfectly perched on top of. "You're the chick who writes for the the LadyBlog, right?"

Camera still on him, Alya could be heard making an excited squeal. "Yes! That's my blog!"

He pointed towards the camera. "Are you filming now?"

"I am!"

He leapt down from the lamppost with ease and approached her with a wide grin on his face. He offered a "May I?" as he reached out and took the phone from Alya, then turning it towards himself as he put an arm around her shoulders in a friendly fashion, so they were both in the shot. "The LadyBlog is awesome! I check it out all the time. And I'm pretty sure My Lady does too." He smiled warmly at her as he spoke and Alya looked like she was going to burst from happiness. He turned his attention towards the camera. "You heard it here first, folks! I just asked Ladybug to be my date to the Mayor's Christmas Ball, and she said yes!" Alya squeaked again. "So buy your tickets and we'll see you there! And you can consider this our RSVP, Mr. Mayor." He winked and handed the phone back to Alya before dashing off. He was gone in an instant.

Marinette didn't watch the rest of the video. It was probably just Alya fangirling anyway. She wanted to be annoyed, but she wasn't really. She didn't care too much. He was obviously excited and having made an announcement like that to Alya would no doubt be good for her blog, which she was happy for. And to top it all off, Alya was too excited to come to her house tonight, which meant that she had more time to think about what she would tell her. If she was lucky, maybe she'd forget all about it in favor of obsessing over all the attention her blog would receive.

"Wow!" Tikki said from her perch on Marinette's shoulder. "Chat Noir must really be excited that you said yes! That was nice of him to be in that video for Alya."

"Yeah..." Marinette hadn't even really notice Tikki on her shoulder until she spoke. She texted Alya back, saying ' _That's so cool! That's going to be great for your blog_!'

The reason she had touched Chat's face was because she wanted to know what it felt like. She wanted to see if, after doing so, if she wanted to keep doing it. She did. So much so that she wanted to know what his skin felt like. His lower face was the one part of him that was exposed, and she couldn't really feel him through her gloves. She wanted to really feel him. So she used the one part of her that was also exposed.

With her lips, she could actually feel how soft and warm his skin was. Her eyes slipped shut as she recalled feeling his uneven breath on her cheek. He was clearly affected by her actions, which she took some small pride in. To see the usually cocky cat, all nervous and tense by something as innocent as a kiss on the cheek...

She could've kissed him for real... if she had wanted.

There was a moment there, she knew he had felt it too. The air was thick with anticipation. She remembered the small noise he made when she pressed her mouth against his jaw. It made her blush. When she pulled away and they looked at each other, that was the perfect moment for a kiss to happen...

But she was getting ahead of herself. And she didn't want their first real kiss to happen just because of the heat of the moment. And what's more, she still wasn't sure if Chat Noir was really the one she wanted. At that exact moment in time, he was the one on her mind, yes. But again, one could argue that was just because of the heated moment they had shared. At the end of the day, if she could look at Adrien and still have Chat on her mind, and then look at Chat and just want him, then she'd be sure.

The Christmas Ball. She had agreed to be Chat's date. She told him that there was no one else she'd rather go with. Was that true? What if Adrien had asked her? Would she have rather gone with him? If he asked her now, would she feel she was missing out when she told him she already agreed to go with someone else? As Ladybug, she thought that it did only make sense for her and Chat to go together, but what did Marinette want?

Marinette was Ladybug and Ladybug was Marinette. That's what she was trying to make clear. She just didn't know how. She could probably start with, stop thinking of the two as separate entities. They were the same. She was the same. She was one person.

It wasn't so much how she felt about it, but more about how she knew other people saw her. She knew the neither Adrien or Chat Noir knew she was the same person, so they both viewed her as two people. Chat didn't think that he had asked Marinette to the ball. But she had already decided to tell him the truth, hadn't she?

The Christmas Ball... maybe she could tell him then. But that felt so far away. Well... that was okay actually. Until she thought of something else, maybe something better, the Christmas Ball would be her deadline. If she hadn't come up with anything before then, that would be her backup plan. And until she came up with something that she could do sooner, she'd plan for that.

She supposed she could just simply tell him, 'Hey, I'm tired of this whole double life thing, let me reintroduce myself, my name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng and my stage name is Ladybug.' But for some reason, that approach made her feel nervous. She already knew she didn't want to do some big dramatic reveal, she wanted it to be as simple and painless as possible. If she had it her way, she'd just stop acting like two people and he'd just know without her having to tell him.

She sat up straighter in her chair. That's exactly what she wanted to do. Just stop acting like two people. That was her main concern anyway. But how?

If she was going to do that, she had to do it all the time. And the more she thought about it, the less she cared about other people. Chat Noir was the only one who would really notice anyway, as he had spent real time with both sides of her.

She wondered briefly if he was planning on visiting her tonight, but she really hoped he didn't. Not only because of her own inner turmoil, but also because he still wasn't aware that she was Ladybug, and for him to run and visit 'another woman' right after what had happened between them... The thought didn't sit well with her. Even if she was both women in that situation, he didn't know that, so to his knowledge, if he did visit her, he'd be visiting another woman.

The frustration of it all started to catch up to her, her chest clenching up as all the thoughts rushed through her head. She knew what she wanted to do, she just didn't know how to put all the thoughts and feelings into words. And she didn't know how good of an idea it was.

"Marinette..." She had already forgotten Tikki again. The kwami had moved from her shoulder to sit on top of the computer monitor and was watching her charge carefully. "What are you thinking about?"

Maybe saying it out loud would help her get her thoughts straight. "I know I want Chat Noir to know who I am..."

"Yes?"

"... And I'm tired of pretending like I'm two people..."

"Go on...?"

"... And the only thing I can think of that I just want to stop the double life."

The kwami's eyes widened and a sad and panicked look flashed on her tiny face. Marinette quickly shook her head and waved her hands defensively.

"No, no, not like... I want to stop being Ladybug, that's not what I meant.." Tikki visibly relaxed. "I just mean that... I wish I could..." She realized she didn't even know what she was trying to say.

"Talk it out, Marinette." Tikki encouraged.

"Well, for the record, I plan to keep being Ladybug until the day I die."

The kwami giggled. "That's good to hear."

"Anyway," she brought her hands together and rested them against her chin. "I just mean that... if I could have it my way, I'd just stop pretending like Ladybug and Marinette were two people and Chat Noir would just know. And I'd do that at school too. Like, in every situation, I'd just... stop. Stop acting like I'm not Ladybug. Like if Alya asked me if I had a date to the Christmas Ball, I'd say 'Yes, you've met him, you'll see us there'. I'm not lying. When Chat asks me where I got my dress, I'll tell him 'Oh, this? I made this.' Or like... he'd come over here and see me working on a dress, and he'll ask about it and then I'll tell him that I'm making my own Christmas Ball dress, and then at the ball, when he see Ladybug in it and he recognizes it, he'll ask me again where I got it, and I'll say 'I already told you, I made this'. I just want to lay it out there without actually acknowledging it and just let him figure it out himself. I don't want to have to say it, I just want him to know! I almost _kissed_ him today and he doesn't even know my first name!"

"Marinette?"

"Yes?" She met eyes with her kwami for the first time since her rant start. She was smiling at her.

"I think you just found the answer."

The next day, Marinette entered the school building and was greeted with utter chaos.

It seemed that Chat Noir's little stunt had gotten just as much attention as he probably wanted. People were chattering with each other about the Christmas Ball and what there plans for the night would be, like it was prom or something. She heard more than one group of friends talking about Ladybug and Chat, like would they stay the whole night, would they be annoyed if people asked for pictures, and were they together.

Based on what she was over hearing, the general consensus was, yes, Ladybug and Chat Noir were so obviously dating.

Jesus.

"Marinette, wait up!" She turned toward the the voice that called her name and a familiar warm feeling swelled in her chest as Adrien approached her. "Wow. What's all the excitement about?" He had a smile on his face that suggested that he partially knew.

"Oh, didn't you hear?" She couldn't help the bland, disinterested tone of her voice. "Apparently, Ladybug and Chat Noir are a thing now."

Adrien's eyes widened. He stared at her in what looked like disbelief, but a cheeky grin slowly creeped onto his face. "Do people really think that?"

"Didn't you see the video Alya took?" They began to climb the stairs toward their class. "It blew up, went viral over night from the looks of it. I think it was even on the news."

"Really?" Adrien sounded way too excited but she ignored it.

"Yeah," she then lowered her voice. "Because apparently no one has anything better to talk about."

"What was that?"

She whipped her head around to look at him, and smiled. "Nothing."

The truth was, the idea that people thought they were already together was a little worrisome. It felt like added pressure that she certainly didn't need. Almost like there was an expectation now. Why couldn't people just mind their own business?

Well, she supposed that's what happens when you were a famous superhero...

Adrien held the door for her as they both entered the classroom, and she offered a quiet thank you. She didn't know why she was surprised to see Chloe sitting on her desk and going on about the super duo.

"... Of course they would come to Daddy's Christmas Ball, I knew they would, no question. Ladybug and I are super close, you know!" She flipped her hair and giggled.

Alya, already in her seat, snickered at Chloe as Marinette sat beside her. "Careful, Chloe. Remember what happened to the last girl who bragged and said she and Ladybug were BFFs."

Chloe scoffed at her. "That's different! That Lila girl was a total liar, and Ladybug was so right to call her out for it! But me and Ladybug are actually friends. Tell her, Sabrina!"

The redhead beside her nodded vigorously. "It's true! Ladybug and Chat Noir always save Chloe! Ladybug always comes to protect her, too!"

Alya huffed and rolled her eyes. "That's because she's always a target."

Chloe flipped her hair again and stuck her nose in the air. "Whatever, you're obviously just jealous."

"Suuure, Chloe..." Despite the back and forth, Alya was glowing with a sense of pride that all the commotion had started because of her blog.

Alya forgotten, Chloe resumed talking. "Anyway, how could they _not_ attend after being _personally_ invited? Oh, it's going to be so much fun! I wonder what Ladybug is going to wear. She'll probably ask to borrow one of my dresses, since we are so close. I could probably arrange something for Chat Noir too..."

Both Adrien and Marinette groaned simultaneously.

Chloe was annoying, but she brought up a point that Marinette hadn't thought of before. What was she going to wear?

"Hey, Chloe," Kim said suddenly. "Are these Balls even any fun?"

Ivan chuckled. "Heh... balls..."

"What do you mean, even any fun?" Chloe looked offended. "Of course they're fun! They're the epitome of elegance! No other Christmas party could even compare!"

"Last year, Marinette's Christmas Party was super fun." Kim continued. "Speaking of which, Marinette, are you gonna have another one this year?"

Marinette turned to face him, realizing she was being stared at expectantly by their other classmates as well. "You know, I was going to ask my parents, but I completely forgot." She shrugged. "But I can tell you that if we do have one, it won't be on the same night like it was last year."

She decided that just now. Last year, it happened to be coincidence that both parties were on the same night. She didn't know if her parents would want to throw another party, but she could make it so they didn't line up.

Kim, along with the others, seemed pleased with this answer. "Oh, rad! Let us know if you do!"

She smiled and gave a thumbs up, but Chloe scoffed again. "Like her lame party could even be half as fun as mine!" She crossed her arms tightly across her chest and pivoted to face the blonde in the desk next to her's. "Isn't that right, Adrikins? You know how fun my Daddy's party is."

Normally, Adrien tried to keep to himself when it came to Chloe and her exaggerations. He absolutely hated all the Mayor's previous Christmas parties and at first, he had dreaded the thought of going again, but knowing that his Lady would be on his arm this year made him feel differently about it. But he couldn't say that. And Chloe had asked about previous parties, so...

"Sorry, Chlo, they really aren't that fun..." He shrugged and tried to look apologetic. "I'm mean... I anxious to see what your dad is doing different this year. It's never been a masquerade before, so... that might be cool."

Chloe brought a hand to her chest, clearly surprised by his answer. "Adrien! Our Christmas parties are the best! How can you think that?"

Annoyance was starting to grow on his face despite his best efforts to hold it back. "Chloe, it's a bunch of rich people who get together every year to rub elbows and talk about how they're better than everyone else, what's fun about that?"

Unexpectedly, a smug smirk creeped onto her face. "You always go though, don't you?"

"Because of my father."

"And are you going this year?"

Adrien paused. He was going, yes, but as Chat Noir. He didn't know if he was willing to pull one of those 'constantly excusing himself to transform and be two people at the same time' gags. Besides being exhausting, that would take him away from his Lady which was the last thing he wanted. She'd never give him a chance if on their first official date, he only spent half the night with her and was constantly running off and not telling her why.

He ran that thought through his head again: Their first official date. No way he was going to fuck this up.

But on the other hand, if his Father expected him to be there, he'd have to at least make an appearance as Adrien. He couldn't say whether his father would still want to go, now that the guest list wasn't as exclusive.

He realized Chloe was still waiting for an answer. "I... I don't know yet."

"Well..." She leaned forward on her hands, almost looking like she was trying to crawl towards him. He was glad that more of there classmates elected that their conversation was no longer interesting and started to talk amongst themselves. "I'm going to assume that you will. And you're going to need a date..."

"Don't even think about it." He couldn't restrain the stern tone of his voice.

Before Chloe could respond, the teacher entered the classroom and signaled for everyone to quiet down because class was starting.

Alya watched the whole conversation and suppressed a chuckle at the rejected look on Chloe's face. She peered over at Marinette, who had stayed silent during the exchange. What she saw was Marinette furiously sketching out shapes in her sketchbook. She hadn't even noticed her retrieve the sketchbook...

Adrien had to stop himself from scoffing out loud. It's not like it was really that big a deal, but he didn't understand why Chloe couldn't just take a hint. She'd been that way since they were little. She acted like they were actually a couple or something. At first, he didn't know how he was supposed to react to it, so he just stayed quiet. But in recent years, he'd become a bit more transparent with his annoyance. He didn't hate Chloe, not at all. He still considered her his friend, but he also got the idea that she didn't have friendship on her mind. And just because they were friends, didn't mean he had to approve of the way she treated others, because he certainly did not. Her mean spirit made her ten times less likable as a potential romantic interest. Not that he was keeping score or anything, because he already had someone. Like he would really entertain the idea of being Chloe's date when his Lady had finally started to show signs of returning his affections.

Ladybug was finally starting to return his affections.

Ladybug returned his affections.

As many times as he ran the thought through his head, it still sounded like just a wish. And it probably was. He'd never had a girlfriend, he'd never felt anything like this before Ladybug. He didn't know how he was supposed to interpret her actions, he knew nothing about the ways of a woman's heart. Other than Chloe, the only girls he'd had spent time with before attending public school were high profile fashion models. And Lord knows, they were a breed of their own, one which he wanted no part of. He'd never even kissed a girl...

He'd kissed Ladybug once. Under the influence of an akuma. She'd kissed him to snap him out of whatever trance he was in, and he didn't remember a thing. He only knew because Plagg told him. Rather tauntingly so, he thought. The kwami teased him for days about how 'He literally had to threaten her life with a cataclysm for her to finally kiss him'.

He shook the bitter memory away. He may not have even experience when it came to women, but he knew his Lady. And he knew his own feelings. And he knew that one would have to be a complete moron to say that there was nothing there between them yesterday. Even if it was just a heated moment, 'just friends' didn't have heated moments. And boy, was it a heated moment.

Plagg had been right. While thinking the events over again, Adrien's hands had drifted from his face to other places.

The moment he shared with Ladybug was pure. Pure electricity and raw emotion. It was innocent and good and he couldn't ask for anything more, but if he had, all he had wanted in that moment was a kiss. But that didn't change the fact that what he felt was both in his heart _and_ in his body. And alone in his room in the dark, he had no shame. He was allowed to express himself and explore himself.

However, in the present moment, he was not in his room and he was certainly not alone.

Suddenly hyperaware of his surroundings, he begged his thoughts to venture to a safer topic and he realized that Chloe had actually brought up one good point.

What was Chat Noir going to wear?

Marinette was sure she had found the answer. An idea came to her and as soon as her pencil hit the page of her sketchbook, she couldn't stop. And she wouldn't. She knew exactly what she was going to do.

She was going to make a dress. A simple enough idea. But this dress was going to be prefect. This dress was going to be the answer.

She didn't know if it was luck that kept people from recognizing her when she was transformed, or if her mask really disguised her that well. Her and Chat were more often than not easily able to identify akuma victims, and most of them were disguised far better than her. And as for Chat, she was pretty confident that his eyes didn't really look like that in his normal life. There had to be something that kept people from recognizing her. Her own mother couldn't recognize her. Her Ladybug mask must have something magic about it. There had to be something.

The dance was a masquerade. She was going to go, and wear a mask, yes. But she wouldn't actually transform. She was going to make a dress, make a mask, and show up. She was going to present herself as Ladybug without actually transforming into Ladybug. That was the answer.

She would pour everything she had into this dress. This would be her masterpiece. This one garment would be the thing that finally blurred the line between Marinette and Ladybug. She wouldn't waste anymore time. It had to be perfect. She wanted it to be beautiful and make her feel beautiful. Make Chat Noir think she was beautiful.

Her hand stopped sketching. The thought hit her like a ton of bricks. She didn't usually seek out Chat's affections or praises. She didn't crave them. She didn't desire for him to be attracted to her. So why now, all of the sudden? Why was she suddenly picturing herself in a dress, her face partially concealed, seeing Chat Noir at this masquerade party? Why was she imagining the look on his face as he saw her at last and took in her form? And he would smile, his eyes filled with adoration, as he took her hand and kissed it, whispering, " _You are so beautiful, Milady_." Then he would bow, as he often did, and ask " _May I have this dance_?" as slow music would start to play, and he'd lead her to the dance floor, his eyes never leaving her, he'd encircle his arms around her waist as she delicately lay her hands on his shoulders, and they would start dancing.

Just imagining it made her heart clench and her breath flutter. She was staring at the back of Adrien's head, but her thoughts were no where near the blonde in front of her. She couldn't get over the burning look in Chat's eyes, even if she was just imagining it.

It was a date, after all. Not a "go with me as my friend" thing, or even a "let's go together but not call it a date" thing. He'd asked her to be his date, and she had accepting. It was a date.

Their first date.

It had been a week or so since Ladybug had agreed to be his date, and Adrien hadn't seen her since then. He'd kept his eyes out for her, prowled around the rooftops as Chat Noir, watched the Ladyblog, hoping for a sighting somewhere, he even found himself almost wishing for an akuma attack.

He'd never before been bothered by the fact that he couldn't get in touch with her unless they were both in uniform, but he was growing desperate. He could barely stand it, he wanted to see her again. The fact that their last encounter had been so heated left him anxious and bothered. He couldn't get it out of his head, and he wouldn't until he saw her again.

He was currently leaning against the railing of the stairs in the courtyard of his school on this chilly Friday. His classmates were gathered, having a group discussion about the Christmas dance. Nino stood beside him, Alya and Marinette were seating on the bench against the wall. Marinette had her sketchbook in her lap, he wasn't sure if she had looked up from it since she began whatever project it was she was working on.

"So basically," Mylene was speaking. "It's not like they will be playing the kind of music we could actually dance to, huh?"

"Oh, there will be dancing." Adrien replied. "Slow, calm, fancy dancing." A couple people grumbled at this. "I actually talked to Chloe's dad about it, and he said he wants guests to have a good time, but the Christmas Ball "is a high class event and I don't want a bunch of teenagers grinding about and acting crazy"!" He put on his best mock-mayor voice.

It was true. He, as Chat Noir, had approached the Mayor and asked for the details about what he was planing on changing this year to make the event more enjoyable. And apparently, his idea of enjoyable meant "themed party". He hadn't really made any changes at all, save for making it a masquerade and allowing normal people to buy tickets. But he supposed that having real people there, other than just snobby rich people, would certainly make a difference.

And having Ladybug with him, he doubted if he would even notice anything else.

"So in other words, no fun dancing." Juleka said dryly.

"So lame." Nino added. "What fun is a party without real dancing?"

Alya chuckled. "To some people, slow dancing is real dancing." She winked at him and Adrien saw his cheeks darken slightly. Alya continued. "I'm still going, I want to see Ladybug and Chat Noir together. I want to know if they're actually a thing. It'll be fun, even if it is fancy."

"I bet we could throw a more fun party, with actual dancing and a better atmosphere than a bunch of old rich people." Nino straightened his glasses on his face. "I mean, what are you going to do, Alya, just go by yourself and follow them around all night? That's not fun."

Alya looked him over before a slight smirk made it's way onto her face. "Who said I was going by myself?"

Adrien saw a strange look flash in Nino's eyes, but before he could speak, Alya continued. "Marinette, you're going too, right?"

Marinette still hadn't looked up from her sketchbook, and even after being addressed by her friend, her pencil continued to dance upon the page. "Um...Yes."

"You are?"

Marinette finally looked up from her page at Alya's surprised tone. "Yes?"

Alya smiled brightly and looked back to Nino. "See, I won't be by myself."

Marinette felt that she should tell Alya that she probably wouldn't be able to hang out with her all night at the dance, but she didn't want to get into that in front of all their friends. So she returned to her sketchbook, keeping her eyes down but her ears open.

Adrien could help the chuckle that escaped him at Nino's frustrated expression. Nino shook it off, though, and spoke. "Even still, I bet we could throw a way better Christmas party."

"Yes!" Marinette held her sketchbook out at arms length to look at it victoriously. She was obviously louder than she intended to be, because she tensed up slightly when she realized everyone was staring at her. She hugged the sketchbook against her chest and cleared her throat. "I mean, yes we could, so why don't we?"

A curious buzz arose from their classmates and it was Kim that spoke up. "What do you mean? Like we throw our own party instead of going to the Mayor's party?"

"No, I mean like an after-party!" The buzz grew in excitement so she continued. "The Mayor's party will be fancy and formal, but it's also supposed to end at... I think 11? Is that right?" Adrien nodded in confirmation. "Okay, so that's still early for us. We could go home and change and-"

"And then the real party begins!" Nino finished her sentence. "Yes, I love it!"

"Good idea, Marinette!" Alya grabbed her knee excitedly. "That's perfect!"

"Where are we going to have it?"

"We could have it at my place."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Adrien started to panic. He wasn't sure if they would be able to, and he'd just volunteered his home without thinking twice about it. His father would throw a fit if he found out, but that was the thing.

 _If_ he found out.

He'd asked his father about the Christmas Ball, curious as to whether he was going to have to make an appearance without his mask, and the answer was yes. However, his father expressed that he didn't want to spend all night in the presence of 'common folk', and he would be leaving the event early. From there, he would be heading straight to the airport, where he was going to board his private jet, and fly out of the country for an important business trip. Adrien panicked, worrying the he, too, would be expected to go, but his father informed him that he would be staying behind. He mentioned something about Adrien being old enough now to have some independence, and that this was a good opportunity to see if he could handle being by himself without Daddy Dearest there to "protect and guide him".

Adrien had to keep himself from rolling his eyes at the statement. So basically, this was a test. But whatever. His father would be gone, and so would Natalie and the Gorilla. He knew there were surveillance cameras in his home that would no doubt be on, but he also knew how to turn them off. The switch was behind a locked safe door, which his father didn't think he could get into. But Plagg could unlock anything. He had realized that meant his father would be gone for Christmas, leaving him alone, and a few years ago, that would've deeply saddened him. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he could easily get an invitation to spend Christmas with any of his friends, and it would probably be a better Christmas than he could hope for with his own father.

"Dude, are you sure?" Nino knew first hand the perils of trying to throw a party at Adrien's house. He seemed uneasy at the suggestion. "Won't your dad blow his top?"

"Oh, he won't be home." Adrien responded cooly. "He's going directly to the airport when he leaves the Mayor's party. Big important business trip."

"During Christmas?" Marinette sounded shocked and a little saddened. The Mayor's party wasn't on Christmas Day or Eve exactly, it actually took place a few days before hand. But it was true, his father would still be gone on Christmas.

Adrien shrugged and tried to brush it off. "It's no big deal, my dad's not really the type to really care about holidays anyway."

"But he _will_ be gone, is what you're saying?" Nino pressed. He could see the excitement bubble up by the way Nino was starting to bounce on the balls of his feet.

"Yeah, he'll be gone."

Immediately, a loud chatter broke out as everyone began to discuss what they would do to contribute, how everything would be set up, and any other details that Adrien didn't really understand. He wasn't the most experienced party person, after all.

He knew that perhaps he should've thought about it alittle more before just agreeing to something like that right away, but in that moment, he wasn't concerned about the details, or even afraid of the potential consequences.

All he was thinking about was Ladybug.

If there was an after party at the Agreste mansion, obviously Adrien Agreste would have to be there. Which posed a small problem, seeing as how Chat Noir had a date with Ladybug that same night. It was a date to the Christmas Ball, so he supposed he should assume that after the Christmas Ball was over, so was the date. But the idea of parting ways with her so early, when the night would only really be half over, didn't really appeal to him. Perhaps he was being selfish, but he wanted to be by her side all night, and if she left after the Mayor's party, he already knew he probably wouldn't enjoy the after party.

But that posed another problem. Not a problem, really, more of a question.

Could he convince her to come to the after party with him? And if she did, would he run the risk of revealing his identity to her? He had no problem with that, he wanted her to know who he was as much as he wanted to know who she was. But he also knew that she had strong reservations to them revealing their identities.

Or she did, anyway. They hadn't really talked about it in awhile. He wondered if she had changed her mind.

He wanted to bring it up, but he didn't want to come across as needy or pushy or anything like that. He worried that perhaps she would think he was moving too fast, or taking her accepting his date request a little too seriously. But dammit all if it wasn't something he thought about all the time.

He was hopelessly in love and he didn't even know her first name.

Slowly, people were starting to disperse, some speaking about making plans for the Mayor's party, others talking about what they would contribute to the after party. Many of them offered Adrien promises of working out all the details later, he nodded and said they'd talk about it more once the date grew closer. He saw Marinette whisper something to Alya, who then got that mischievous look in her eye before smiling and beckoning Nino to follow her. Nino waved him a goodbye as they disappeared down the hallway.

"Adrien?"

He looked up at the source of the sweet voice and saw Marinette, still seated on the bench with her sketchbook in her lap, and he realized that they were suddenly alone. He smiled and approached, taking the seat next to her that Alya had previously been occupying.

"What's up?"

"Does your..." She hesitated, looking as if she were worried about something. "Is your dad... usually away during Christmas?"

He paused. He'd never really thought about it before. "I mean... He..." I wanted to deny it, say that he never spent the holidays alone, this was just a case of bad timing. But he realized he couldn't. True, his father often traveled during the holiday season, and true, Adrien was usually with him when he traveled. But as far as really spending the holidays together, in the sense of what that was supposed to mean... His father was always working. He showered him in gifts, but he didn't really give him any attention. And that wasn't just a seasonal thing, he realized. He also realized he hadn't answered Marinette. "...yes."

"And... are you usually alone?"

"I..." His mouth agape, he scrambled for an answer that wasn't so pitiful. "I mean, yeah but... I'm used to it, it's not that big a deal." He tried to put on a warm smile, but if it looked half as forced as it felt, she'd see right through him.

The way her eyes glossed over with sadness told him that, yes, she saw right through him. "Oh, Adrien..."

He shook his head and commanded his smile to become brighter. "No, really, it's okay! My dad's never around so it's not like him being gone for the holidays will be that different." As soon as he said, he realized that made it sound so much worse.

Marinette turned to stare in front of her. The fact that, that was normal for him damn near broke her heart. She didn't want to seem like she was pitying him because that just felt like a mean thing to do, but at that point, she felt she had to do something. Extend some kind of comfort...

"So... what have you been working on?"

"Huh?" She looked back at him. He had scooted ever so slightly closer to her on the bench. His eyes darted down to her sketchbook, which was closed, and she subconsciously moved her hand to rest on top of it, protectively.

What she had been working on was the dress that Ladybug would be wearing.

Adrien noticed her do this, of course, and he chuckled. He was all too familiar with the walls Marinette built up between them. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

She made a small noise, without looking him in the eyes, and held the book in her hands. "I.. I've been working on a dress."

She'd told herself that she was going to stop pretending like she was two people. If she was serious, and she was, she needed to commit to it. Right now.

"Oh?" Adrien pressed. He noticed immediately that she was attempting to open up to him. He knew her well enough to recognize the lines in the sand. If something was personal to her, she wouldn't budge, just like if something wasn't that personal, she'd share it without hesitation. Yet here she was, trying to allow herself to step over her own boundaries.

"It's... a dress... I wanted... to make. For the Christmas Ball..."

"Yeah?"

"...Yeah." Her fingers twitched nervously on the spine of her sketchbook. She traced an index finger down the side of the front cover, as if she were standing outside a door and wanted to open it but also was hoping that whoever was inside would open it for her.

"I... I haven't... picked a design that... I like yet."

"Can I see?" He wouldn't normally ask, out of respect for her boundaries, but decided to chance it. Worst case scenario, she said no.

She still didn't look at him, but her fingers slowly, very slowly, lifted the front cover open, and then shuffled through the pages until she reached the one she had previously been on. She let it lay open in her lap for a few moments, and then quickly held it out to him, like she would lose her nerve any second.

He carefully took the book from her, his fingers brushing against her's as he did so. He immediately took notice of how cold they were. It was a chilly day, to be certain, and it seemed the form fitting white sweater she had on didn't offer much protection to her ungloved fingers. He set the book down in his own lap and then reached out to grab her hands in his, causing her eyes to widen and cheeks to flush.

"Your hands are freezing!" He said with concern in his voice. She stuttered back a reply, but he couldn't understand it. And he was more focused on something else.

Her hands felt awfully familiar in his.

The way they fit in his hand, the size, the shape... the way she extended her index finger while the rest of them curled slightly against his palm. They were small and delicate, but they were clearly the hands of an artist. They were calloused and unmanicured, he even noticed that her knuckles were unusually pronounced. He noted the slight scaring. She had one particular scar running up the length of her index finger. He noted the uneven length of her nails. He rubbed his thumbs against the back of her hands and he knew he'd seen hands like her's somewhere before.

He'd seen plenty of women's hands that were perfect. Even skin tone, shaped nails, and not a scratch on them. All the models he knew had perfect, unscathed hands. But he was now realizing how boring that was. The state of one's hands weren't really something that he thought about, so the notion never occurred to him before, but as he stared down at Marinette's rough and beautiful hands, he wanted to know their story. These were the hands of a real person.

He had the sudden intense feeling that he should kiss them. He felt like he had kissed them before. He was sure he probably had, as Chat Noir, during one of his visits to Marinette's home, but this was different. The hands he held now were so familiar, and he knew there was somewhere else he'd known them from. They made him think of someone else...

He looked up from her hands and caught her eyes. She was staring at him, intensely. She was no longer nervous, no longer blushing and stuttering. She was focused and collected and curious and staring him right in the eye. He felt small under her gaze. It was like she could see right into his soul. She said nothing. Her eyes burned into him, he felt the heat rise in his face and neck.

Her irises were like bright blue fireworks against a dark blue night sky. The longer he looked into them, the more he could swear he saw them dancing. His chest felt tight and his breath caught in his throat. Those eyes...

Why was he nervous? Marinette had never made him nervous before. Or if she did, it was because he didn't know how he was supposed to react, like when they'd first met and he'd never had a friend before and she was judging him because of a misunderstanding.

She slowly and gently pulled her hands from his, but then lightly brushed the stray hairs away from his eyes with the back of her knuckles, the tips of her fingers lightly trailing down the side of his face. His eyes widened and he said nothing. He was embarrassed when his breath noticeably hitched and her top lip twitched in amusement.

He had an insanely intense case of deja vu.

She rested her hand on his cheek and dragged the tip of her index finger lightly along his skin, just under his eye, starting next to his nose and going all the way back to his hairline. The feeling of her bare fingers on his skin sent a spark of electricity through him, the energy converging in his chest, where his heart pounded against his ribcage the longer he stared into her ever observant gaze.

He was nervous. He was anxious. He wasn't sure why she was doing what she was doing, but he couldn't deny that the feeling was so goddamn familiar.

He realized that his own hands were just hovering dumbly between them, but he didn't know what else to do with them. His face felt hot. He found himself anxiously wanting to know what she planned to do next.

She brushed her fingers down his cheek once more before placing her thumb just above his top lip. His lips were parted slightly and she gently dragged her thumb down over them, pulling his bottom lip slightly.

She hummed quietly, a look in her eyes that he couldn't interpret, and she pulled away from him, letting her hands flutter down to her lap and her eyes gaze out in front of her, focusing on nothing. He was dumbfounded, completely taken aback by her actions. Normally, he would've blushed from the sudden display of what he thought was affection, and he probably was still blushing, but he was more concerned with how sure he was that he had felt that exact feeling before.

Ladybug had traced his face with her fingers in that exact way, down to the very pattern.

"You know," She spoke at last. "... no one should have to be alone on Christmas." She met his eyes again and shrugged, a small smile dancing on her lips. "If you wanted, you could... spend Christmas with us..."

"...Us?"

"Me and my parents. And last year, Alya's family came over, too, towards dinner time."

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Marinette reminded him so much of Ladybug. He had completely forgotten what they had been talking about before, and now as he stared at her, he was having a hard time forming words. Unfortunately, Marinette took his silence as hesitation.

"You don't have to, it's just... you know, it's an open invitation." Her cheeks darkened as the old nervousness started to reemerge. "I mean, if you like spending Christmas alone... or I'm sure you have other friends who you'd rather..."

"No!" He'd shouted it and he hadn't meant to. He scrambled to collect himself. "I mean, no, I don't like being by myself. I mean! I don't like spending the holidays by myself. I mean, I'm used to it, but... ughhh..."

Why was he so fluttered?

He squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled deeply.

 _Breath, Agreste._

He opened his eyes and smiled at Marinette. "I... I would love that, actually. Thank you."

She stared at him for a moment before a warm smile spread across her face. "Your welcome."

A strange silence fell between them, one where she seemed to be contemplating something, and he was having a devil of a time ignoring the rising heat on his face and neck. He felt more uncomfortable but the fact that she was so calm, as though she honestly didn't feel the tension in the air. He looked for a distraction and realized he still had her sketchbook in his lap.

"So, um, these are for the Mayor's party, huh? They're really..." He hadn't actually looked at them before he spoke, but when he did, his next words caught in his throat.

He was hoping her sketches would distract him from the strange, Ladybug-esque feeling that Marinette was giving him, but the drawings on the page just made it ten times worse.

There were a couple completed sketched designs on the pages, along with a dozen or so little doodles. Two complete drawings, a few bust drawings, most of them with color. All of them were red, with black details. One of them was a scoop-neck, one was an off-the-shoulder, she even had drawings of hairstyles. But the thing that jumped out at him were the drawings of masks.

A mask with spots on it.

A mask with spots under it.

A mask with cut-outs under the eyes which were made to appear like spots.

He was sensing a pattern here.

Marinette was talented, clearly, but he already knew that. The sketches were amazingly detailed and well drawn out. The designs themselves were gorgeous. And he knew she had the craftsmanship to be able to bring the designs on the paper to life, he'd seen her do it before. But there was one thing he felt himself wanting to know.

Were these dresses supposed to be meant for Marinette, or Ladybug?

He couldn't work up the nerve to ask.

"These are awesome." He said instead, with a warm smile as he finally looked up and met eyes with her again. "You're amazing, Marinette."

He watched her face darken in color as she bit her lower lip in an attempt to stop her grin from growing too wide. "Thank you." She looked away, clearly shy. "I still don't know which one I'm going to..."

"I like this one." He said and traced his fingers over one of the drawings. It was of a floor length red dress, mermaid style fit, sleeveless with sweetheart neckline. It was a simple design, but the curves of the figure in the drawing were quite appealing, and he found himself imagining Ladybug in that dress.

She wore a skintight bodysuit which was very unforgiving in the way it fit. Not that it mattered, because Ladybug had an amazing body. As she should with all the physically activity she did. Point being, he knew every curve of her body, and he knew she would look amazing in the dress Marinette had designed.

Come to think of it, he still had to figure out what he was going to wear to the Christmas Ball.

Deviating from that thought completely, another thought came into his mind. And before he had a chance to think about too much and chicken out, he spoke. "Marinette?"

"Yes?"

"Do you... know Ladybug?"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he was glad he'd asked them. Mainly because now that they were out, he couldn't take them back if he wanted to. It was an innocent question, but for some reason, he felt like it wasn't something he should ask. And the way Marinette's face paled and her eyes widened, told him that this probably wouldn't be a simple yes or no answer.

"Um..." She didn't look at him, instead choosing to focus on a spot on the ground. "Yes, I do."

"How well do you know her?" He was beginning to realize that she would answer his questions, but she wouldn't just volunteer information, so he had to be specific in what he asked.

She was quiet for a long moment and it might have been the most painful few seconds of silence ever. He could practically see the gears in her head turning as she was choosing her words carefully. If she did know Ladybug, she must also know to keep most things secret. She still hadn't looked at him. She spoke very slowly, almost like reading a script she'd just been handed. "I... know her... about as well as... I know... myself."

So he had been right the whole time. She did know more than she let on. That made another thought pop into his head.

Perhaps Marinette could help him decipher Ladybug's recent actions. Perhaps even help him win her heart.

Not Adrien, of course, but Chat Noir. He visited her often, as Chat, it wouldn't really be anything out of the ordinary. Having the mask on made Adrien much more confident, acting much bolder than he ever would without it. Chat Noir could ask Marinette more about Ladybug, but Adrien just couldn't.

Marinette's response to his question had been vague, but at least she had given him a response. That was more than he usually got from her and he didn't want to push it too far. She was clearly uncomfortable, and if he pressed his luck, she might retreat and then never open up to him again.

But coming to her as Chat Noir was different. He was Ladybug's partner, so him asking questions was alot less suspicious than Adrien's seemingly sudden interest in the superhero. She's already noticed that he was a "fanboy" of Ladybug's, if he started nagging her about the spotted hero after learning she knew her, he'd just look crazy. And also, Chat Noir had a much less restrained filter, so he could get away with alot more without seeming out of character.

A part of him felt like he should feel guilty, thinking such things. It might have been alittle wrong to decide on his own that Marinette would be his unknowing wing-lady. But all he would do was ask questions, right? Was that really so bad? It's not like he would just be using her for her Ladybug knowledge, right?

Ah shit, that's exactly what it was, wasn't it?

"Do you want to know something or...?"

Marinette seemed to have not only composed herself, but also steeled herself, as he was consumed by his thoughts and he realized that he'd just been staring at her with wide eyes and a 1000 yard gaze. When he refocused on her, she was no longer pale and seemed relaxed. An amused smile even started to twitch at her lip.

"Oh.. I..."

Well, she did ask, so...

He chose the first, safe question that popped into his head.

"Are she and Chat Noir really a thing?"

He wanted to know what Ladybug told her friends about the rumor. But as soon as he said it, he realized how it made him look.

Marinette giggled. " _Fanboy_." She teased. He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed, trying to shrug it off. When her giggling subsided, she let out a comfortable sigh and leaned back on her hands.

"Just a rumor." She said.

His heart dropped ever so slightly. He didn't know why, he should've expected that answer, because that was the truth. But what Marinette said next made his heart jump right back up and into his throat.

"But I think... Maybe... he has a chance."

He had to will himself to stay calm and he decided, guilt be damned, he had to know more from Marinette. He was relieved when his voice came out smooth and unshaken. "What makes you think that?"

She smiled warmly and gentle pulled her sketchbook out of his lap before standing. She hugged the book to her chest again and winked at him. "Straight from the Bug's mouth."

She turned slowly and began to walk away, leaving Adrien almost as flustered as he had been that day with Ladybug, but she didn't get far before the sound of an explosion cut through the air.

Marinette doubled over and dropped her sketchbook as her hands shot over her ears. Adrien shot up from the bench and ran over to her, immediately in hero mode.

"Get down!" He tackled her to the ground and out of the way as the window she'd been standing by shattered and glass flew through the air. She let out a grunt as her back hit the floor.

Adrien hadn't meant for her to fall as hard as she did, but his main focus was that she didn't get hit by whatever was blasting through the wall. Through the loud crashes, the sounds of people screaming, and the random debris that was falling around them, he hadn't a single idea what was happening as he braced himself over Marinette and just tried to shield her and himself.

It was sick, but a strong part of him was suddenly very excited.

This was the first akuma attack in weeks, which meant he would finally see his Lady again. But first, he had to make sure Marinette was safe.

"Are you okay? We have to-!" He sat up when he felt a break in the sudden chaos and looked down to inspect her. He saw an expression on her face that he hadn't expected.

It was quick. As soon as she realized he was looking, she morphed her face into a look of surprise, but he was sure she had been smiling.

"I'm fine, we gotta go!"

She wasn't scared. She wasn't panicking or even shocked. She was collected and calm and confident. She nudged at his shoulders to coax him off of her, pulled herself up, and then grabbed the collar of his jacket to pull him up as well. Her strength caught him off guard and suddenly, he went from the protecter to the one being rescued. She was pulling him along by his wrist and he simply allowed himself to be guided.

They reached an abandoned hallway on the other side of the school and she pushed him into an empty classroom with instructions to hide before she disappeared.

What was he doing? He was the superhero, he should've found her a hiding spot and then ran off to transform. Why had he suddenly gone blank?

Ladybug.

If there was an akuma attack, Ladybug would be there. He had to help. He had to see her. Marinette would be fine. She had an odd talent for avoiding danger.

"So are we going to do something, or just stand here?"

Plagg was suddenly in front of his face, and Adrien hadn't even realized how long he'd been zoned out for.

"Oh... Oh! Claws out!"

The fact that she had basically just asserted herself and Ladybug as two people was the opposite of what she had intended. But to be fair, that was her first attempt at... whatever this was. Pretending that she wasn't two people. And this was also her first attempt at opening up to Adrien about anything, and she still wasn't sure if he should know the truth, so perhaps it was for the best. Chat Noir was the one she wanted to be honest with, so Adrien was perhaps a warm up.

Such timing, this akuma had.

If it even was an akuma. It might very well have been a terrorist or perhaps gang violence, it wouldn't be the first time Ladybug had taken on normal, non-magical criminals. They were actually alot easier to defeat.

She didn't know when she had transformed. She'd been practicing the art of a super-quick transformation for years. A super quick transformation was actually pretty easy to do. So easy, that she hadn't even consciously noticed it. It must of been somewhere in the empty hall on the way, but Ladybug leapt over the glass and out the hole that was once a window, landing on the outside sidewalk. As her eyes caught sight of a colorful character she didn't recognize, she nodded to herself that, yes, it was an akuma.

The sound of a cat-call whistle drew her attention towards a nearby streetlight, where upon it, perched as easily as if he were feather light, was a grinning Chat Noir.

She smiled up at him. Her outer expression did no justice, however, to the fire that was suddenly lit in her stomach upon seeing her partner at long last. Their most recent encounter had been a heated one, and despite the surrounding chaos, as they held eye contact, his eyes hungry and her eyes excited, she felt it again. That feeling that there was something in the air that neither of them could deny.

She didn't even care to muse about how fast he had gotten there.

Another explosion, followed by the sound of screams and shouts, broke their concentrations off of each other. They determined which direction the noise was coming from and looked back at each other to confirm that it was time to get to work.

He winked at her. "Sounds like someone is having a _blast_ out here!"

Her smiled dropped to a deadpan.

...

 **New Chapters Soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**_In which Ladybug needs to think things through better and Chat Noir experiences a rollercoaster of emotions._**

…..

From what she could tell, the akuma victim was a construction worker, more specifically, a demolition worker, which would explain the dynamite he was throwing at buildings. She didn't know what had brought him to the point of akumazation, but she rarely ever learned their story until after they were healed. He also had a large cigar between his lips, which was releasing an alarming amount of smoke into the air which only added to the scene of destroyed buildings.

She and Chat Noir trailed him from the rooftops, waiting for an opening to make their move.

"I'm thinking the akuma is in that cigar." She informed him quietly, despite the fact that they were at a great enough distance that the man in question couldn't hear them. She hadn't really needed to say it, they'd been doing this long enough that they both were in sync and could get the job done with literally no words. But she said it anyway, not only to remind herself that they were in fact on a mission, but also to try and break some of the tension by bringing up their goal.

There was a time and place for everything, and when they were on the tail of an akuma that was blowing up buildings, it was certainly neither the time nor place for them to be distracted by sexual tension.

They both felt it, and they both knew that the other felt it too. When they looked at each other, when they accidentally (or _not_ so accidentally) brushed against one another, Ladybug decided that the sooner they defeated this villain, the sooner she **_could_** fully turn her attention to her leather-clad partner. Whereas she was trying to inconspicuously steal glances at him, he was openly watching her. Knowing she had his attention made her want to take advantage of that, and she grew frustrated because they were still on a mission, after all.

She decided to ignore him, to the best of her ability, and focus solely on freeing and purifying the akuma.

She leapt and landed on the pavement below, Chat at her heels. Ladybug wasn't nearly as concerned about all the destruction as perhaps she should've been. She knew that she could fix it with her Lucky Charm. The thick smoke in the air was becoming a much bigger concern, as it stung her eyes and throat and she had to will herself not to cough and give them away. Chat seemed to be having a similar problem as he swatted at the air with his hands as if he were shooing a fly in an attempt to create a small head space of breathable air.

The streets seemed to be more or less abandoned at this point, save for themselves and the akuma victim, all the civilians having fled by now. The akuma victim's main goal was still a mystery, he seemed to be blowing up buildings randomly. He was shouting as he did so, but the explosions were so loud that they couldn't make out what he was saying.

She stopped when the akuma stopped, he took a long drag on his cigar and looked like he was going to turn towards them, she prepared to take cover. Her abrupt halt caused Chat to bump into her, nearly knocking her over. She quickly steadied herself and swatted her hand back to smack his thigh. "Watch it!" She whispered.

"Sorry!" He whispered back, though there was a hint of mirth in his voice, and placed a hand on her hip to give himself an idea of how close they were. "I can't see anything." He was standing directly behind her, if she had leaned back even just a tad, she would've been pressed against his chest. "Any ideas, Bugaboo?"

Her lips twitched up in a brief smile upon hearing the nickname, but she didn't allow herself to dwell on it. The reason she had leapt when she had was mainly to get away from Chat for a second and she thought that putting herself right in the soon to be battlefield would help her ignore the tension between them and would force her to engage the villain without being distracted. In hindsight, she should've waited. They should've got closer before leaving the rooftops. Not only to wait for a more opportune time to strike, but also because the smoke was much thicker down in the streets than up on the roof.

"Well, sneaking up like this isn't going to work." She thought out loud, as she usually did when working out a plan. "You go that way, I'll go this way. If I could distract him, and if you could manage to get one good hit to the face, you could knock that cigar out of his mouth."

Chat still stood behind her, but she could hear the cheeky grin when he spoke. "For once, I'm _not_ the distraction? You must be starting to like me." The hand that was already on her hip gave a sudden squeeze and she felt his breath against her ear as he spoke, also briefly feeling his chest on her back.

The contact, though simple, sent a shiver up her spine and she took a step away before he could notice. "Just don't fuck it up, or I'm demoting you again." She chanced a look over her shoulder at him. "I'll see what I can do about this smoke too. Give me a signal when you're ready."

"Aye aye, Captain!" He gave her a two finger salute and they both took off in opposite directions.

As he prowled, looking for a spot where he could get close to his target and then hide without being seen, Chat mentally scolded himself. _Aye aye, captain_? Seriously? Could he honestly think of nothing else? He had an endless arsenal of jokes and puns, but _that's_ what rolled off his tongue?

God, Ladybug always managed to get a reaction out of him, but since when did he get so nervous in the middle of a fight? He was usually pretty good at knowing when it was time to flirt and knowing when it was time to get down to business. Despite what Ladybug might claim, he knew there was a time and place, and he usually knew when it was not a good time.

The sexual tension in the air was thick enough to rival the smoke around them. He couldn't keep his eyes off her, and he was having a devil of a time keeping his hands to himself. It had never been like this before. Usually, the atmosphere around them was playful, sometimes warm and tender, other times it was just friendly, but it had never been like this.

He felt it, and he knew that she felt it too.

And he planned on addressing it, as soon as they were done with this akuma victim.

He used that as motivation to focus on his primary goal, because the sooner this was done, the sooner he could give his Lady all of his attention.

Ladybug was pretty confident that she could remain more or less in the open and it wouldn't matter, the smoke was a thick enough cover for her. She ducked behind a car, just to feel like she was somewhat concealed, and waited. They didn't specify what the signal would be, but she knew that she'd recognize it when she saw it.

Soon enough, she heard three taps, quiet enough that they weren't too alarming, but loud enough that they echoed through the smoke filled street and it was impossible to determine which direction they had come from. The akuma victim noticed this as well, and his head whipped around towards her, though she was sure he still couldn't see her.

"What's that?!" He shouted angrily. "Show yourself!"

She stepped out in the open street. She drew her yoyo and proceeded to swing it around over her head, hoping to create a sort of wind vortex that would clear some of the smoke. "You know, all this smoke is bad for the air-"

She didn't expect to be violently side-swiped. The akuma victim, she thought she heard him proclaim himself as 'The Demolitioner', had charged and tackled her, still under the cover of smoke. She had managed to clear a decent size amount of smoke in the short time she had been trying, but it wasn't enough and she hadn't anticipated his movement to be so fast. It took not a moment longer for the smoke to once again flood the air around them.

She bounced painfully against the pavement, the weight of the man on top of her doing her no favors. She could barely see anything, but by some stroke of luck, she caught his wrists in her hands as he attempted to grab at her face, no doubt after her earrings.

They struggled against each other, the cigar firmly between his bared teeth, when suddenly he was thrown off of her. She scrambled to her feet and looked around her, still unable to see anything. A hand pressed against her lower back and she spun around with the intention of attacking, but stilled when she met eyes with her partner, whose hand remained on her hip.

"You okay?" There was an edge to his voice that was not there before.

She wanted to retort back with something, but the possessive look in his eyes quieted her thoughts in an instant. So she settled for, "I'm okay."

"Good." His mouth curled upwards into a smirk before he looked away from her, trying to locate the man amongst the smoke.

In an effort to hide how flustered she'd suddenly become, she did the same, but found that she still could see nothing. She could, however, hear footsteps, but determining their direction was damn near impossible. "Well, that was a bust."

She heard him chuckle behind her. "Not the distraction I was expecting, but hey, now you see it's not as easy as it looks."

She scoffed. "I guess we finally found something that you're better at than me."

She heard him let out a breath that wasn't quite a laugh, but sounded like it was trying to be one. "If it's any consolation..." He took a step backward until she felt their backs brush against one another. When he spoke again, he's voice was much lower. "I think you are _very_ distracting..."

There it was. The spark in the air. The electricity in the atmosphere. The tension between them. And he acknowledged it. There was a fire that was lit in her chest, and it had nothing to do with the smoke in her lungs. A chill ran up her spine and she feared he could feel it, there backs so close together. She'd been scolding herself for feeling this way in the middle of a fight, and had vowed to ignore it until the job was done, and he just went and spoke it into existence. And part of her was glad. Because now it was out there. Speaking of it made it real.

She leaned back, pressing her shoulders against his, and turned her head to speak lowly against the side of his neck. "Down, boy..."

He let out a growl and she felt his hand reach back to grip her thigh.

This shouldn't be happening. They had a job to do. Despite the fact that his hold on her leg sent a pleasant shock through her body, she also became painfully aware that this was neither the time, nor the place. As if to confirm her thoughts, she suddenly heard the footsteps stop, and then restart with added speed and she knew they were being charged.

"Get down!"

She turned around and tackled him, they rolled a bit, and she then proceeded to swing her yoyo over her head as she had done before in an effort to clear the smoke again. The resulting wind cleared just enough large of an area that she was able to spot the akuma victim straight ahead of her. He brought the string of a stick of dynamite up to the lit end of his cigar and shouted something unintelligible before rearing back and throwing it at them. Ladybug panicked, not quite aware of her surroundings, her focus zoned in on the dynamite hurdling towards them. The string looked long enough. She'd have one shot and if she messed up, it would cost her an arm, or maybe even her life.

Where was Chat? Eyes still on the dynamite, she reached a hand down and felt something warm beneath her. Good, he was accounted for.

The world around her became blurry as she blocked out everything except the dynamite. She prayed that she was lucky enough that this would work.

She caught the stick in her hand, ignoring the shouts beneath her, and then threw it back towards the akuma as hard as she could.

"Watch out!" She curled her body downward, throwing her arms over her's and Chat's head as she buried her face in his shoulder, in her best effort to shield both their faces. She felt him go rigid, and then quickly, he threw his arms around her waist to pull her tighter against him.

The dynamite exploded and she thanked whatever powers at work that they were out of range of said explosion. They both tensed up in each other's arms, she heard him release a slight whimper, as they waited for the dust to settle. Ladybug was the first to move, as she was still in hero-mode and had not yet registered the position they were in.

She sat up, placing her hands on the ground and pushing herself up. She observed the scene before her and couldn't help but smile. The dynamite hadn't hit the akuma victim, but had landed (she assumed) close enough to him that he was caught in the blast without it seriously hurting him. What's more, the cigar lay a few steps in front of her on the ground.

She was lucky, but that was _insanely_ lucky. She hadn't even used her lucky charm.

She had to, though, to fix all the damage caused by the akuma victim, and she knew she should probably do so quickly, as he was starting to collect himself.

She looked down at last and was finally hit in the face by her current position. She was straddling her partner. Her clearly flustered, red faced, sprawled out partner. Her partner who still had his hands on her waist. Her partner who was looking up at her with such a nervous look in his wide eyes, lips parted, his chest heaving, golden hair fanned out on the pavement.

She knew she didn't really have time to spare, but she couldn't help herself.

A playful smirk made it's way to her lips. "You look _amazing_ like that."

A glint of excitement shown in his eyes and he spoke, voice breathless and desperate. "Like what?"

She made no attempt to hide the fact that she was looking him over, and the color on his face grew three shades darker. Her voice was sultry and low and like music to his ears. "So vulnerable..." She looked away, almost shy. "... under neath me."

He was done for. He couldn't take it. Had she really just...? He flirted often, sometimes straying into suggestive territory, but he even flustered himself by making such comments. To have Ladybug be the one to say something like that, so shamelessly... he was going to burst. He hadn't a clue how he was supposed to respond, so true to Chat Noir fashion, he put on an over exaggerated display.

"Ohhh, my Lady..." He threw his head back, arched his back to puff his chest out, and opened his arms wide and tried to make his expression as submissive looking as he could. " _Take me_!"

Knowing she had mere seconds until her confidence was replaced with shyness, as well as no time to spare before the akuma was on his feet again, she quickly swooped down. Chat tensed up, clearly not expecting her to actually follow through. She pressed her lips to his cheek. A tingle of warmth flooded her chest at the familiar action, and hearing the helpless gasp slip passed Chat's lips made warmth flood other parts of her as well.

And acting as if she had absolutely no self control, which she was sure she'd get a scolding for later, she nipped at his jaw, causing an actual moan to escape him.

The sound went straight down to the pit of her stomach, causing a sudden rush of moisture to pool between her thighs, and she knew she wanted to hear him make that sound again. But she also knew she had already pushed it too far. Before he could react properly, as well as before she lost her nerve, she rose up again and launched herself forward and snatched the cigar off the ground. The akuma victim was already barreling towards her through the smoke and she mentally scolded herself for allowing herself to become so distracted in the middle of the fight. She torn the cigar into pieces without a moments hesitation.

The black butterfly fluttered out of it, which she wasted no time in capturing and releasing. She watched the akuma victim slow his assault, drop to his knees and become engulfed in a black smoke, which subsided and left a confused looking man in it's wake.

Shoot. She'd forgotten one very important thing. She threw her yoyo into the air and summoned her Lucky Charm. A tube of lip balm fell down into her open hand.

She couldn't hold back the snicker. She knew that whatever it would be, it wouldn't have to aid in her fight, as the fight was already over. She simply needed to throw the charm to fix all the damage caused by said fight. She eyed her yoyo with a smirk and a cocked eyebrow, as if the object itself was responsible. She replaced the yoyo on her hip, popped open the lip balm and ran it over her lips innocently. Her vision had gone black and white, as it always did when she summoned her charm, and she was very curious as to what would light up in her Lucky Vision.

She looked over at her partner, who had pulled himself up and was standing awkwardly a few steps away, stealing glances at her but avoiding making eye contact. His cheeks still burned from their little exchange. When he noticed what she was doing, he finally met her eyes and seemed to shake off whatever nervousness that had plagued him.

"A sign, _purrr_ haps?" He said with a smirk and took a step towards her.

She hummed in response and rubbed her lips together before puckering them out with a popping sound. In her eyes, his lips had gone red with black spots for a moment before color returned to her vision. She offered him the tube. "Some?"

He took it without a word, eyed it carefully with an unreadable expression, and brought it to his lips as well, clearly trying to seem as casual as possible. His cheeks tinted pink ever so slightly as he did so, and she knew exactly why, but she pretended to not be paying attention as she surveyed the surrounding area. The now freed akuma victim was still trying to gather his barrings, and she planned to check on him the instant she fixed all the destruction he'd unwillingly caused.

She heard Chat make a popping sound with his lips, as she had done. He handed the tube back to her and she threw it in the air, watching as swarms of glowing ladybugs cleared the smoke and restored all the buildings.

Her countdown had already started, her earrings already beeped once, but she ignored it. She wanted to test her lucky mask theory.

After making sure the victim was alright and learning his story (apparently he was in fact a demolition worker who had gotten into a disagreement with his superiors when they wanted to destroy a building that meant alot to him, as it used to be a homeless shelter where he volunteered), Ladybug and Chat Noir stayed only long enough so that they could confirm with the police that he had been akumatized and as such, was not to be held responsible for the now fixed damage. Poor man clearly felt terrible and the first thing he did was ask if anyone had been hurt.

They slipped away from the scene, avoiding the reporters and growing crowd of on-lookers. They landed on a nearby rooftop, and as soon as her feet hit the hard surface, something akin to a panic set in. Not quite a panic, but an intense feeling of anticipation and also a realization that this was the moment that she'd been waiting for, and now that it was here, she found herself incredibly nervous. She'd said some things in the heat of the moment, things that she didn't really have to answer for at the time. She'd never been quite that bold, and she'd certainly never made comments that alluded to anything suggestive before.

And what's more, at the time, she didn't consider the fact that she'd have to face him again, outside the heat of the battlefield, knowing that she had said such things.

As an awkward silence set in, her earrings beeped again. It sounded very loud compared to the silence between them. Again, she ignored it.

Chat was the first to crack under the tension. "Well... that was interesting..."

She didn't know if he was trying to hint at something specific, or if he was simply trying to start up a conversation and break the silence. They hadn't quite made eye contact yet. She responded just as vaguely. "Yeah?"

"Yeah..." She looked up met his eyes. She saw something in them. Fear? Anxiety? A look that told her that he had alot he wanted to say, but was afraid to say it. She knew him well enough to know when he was holding his tongue (as he so rarely did).

She looked away, out towards the city which was beginning to light up as the sun began to dip below the horizon. He watched her as she brought the tips of her fingers together and then pressed her hands until her fingers bent back and her knuckles cracked. She then went around and cracked each individual knuckle of her first joint, and then the second. She then brought her hands apart and rolled her wrists, and he heard them crack as well. After that, she interlaced her fingers together and stretched her arms over her head, leaning back and arching her torso in a full stretch.

What a very specific way for a person to crack their knuckles, he pondered. He felt like he'd seen someone else do that very same thing.

She was started to understand what it was that she was feeling. It wasn't Chat Noir that was making her nervous. No, she was well past that. It was the fact that she'd been waiting for an opportunity to like this, and here it was. But now that she stared it in the face, it felt so much more intimidating than she anticipated. But time was not on her side, her window of opportunity was getting smaller and smaller, which did not help her anxiety. She was killing time on purpose, hoping the answer would become clearer if she just gave it a moment more.

She had to make a decision, and she had to make it fast. Either buck up, and do what she intended to do, or run.

"Chaton..." She heard the edge in her own voice and it only added to the pressure she felt.

He heard it too.

He knew her well enough to know when she had something to say, but wasn't saying it. She often bit back her words, usually wanting to scold him for flirting or something of the like, but this was different. He saw the look in her eyes. She was on the brink of panic and he couldn't understand why.

He felt his heart drop. Was she upset over what they had said to each other? Was she angry? Was she just now fully realizing what had happened, and was regretting it? He understood, sometimes comments like that could just slip out, he had been guilty of that before. There were plenty of times that he'd say something and it wouldn't really sink in until later. But...

Wait. How many times had her miraculous beeped?

"Milady...?"

He watched as she squeezed her eyes shut, inhaled deeply, breathed out, and then opened her eyes again. "Teasing and joking aside..." His chest tightened in anticipation. "There is something..." She trailed off.

Oh God. How was she supposed to do this?

She looked to him, and nearly jumped back at how close he had gotten. He stood mere inched from her face with a hungry look in his eyes. Not a lustful look, like she'd half expected, but a truly desperate look. She sensed a sort of buzzing energy radiating off his body, like it was everything he could do to keep still. When he spoke, his voice was hopeful, and barely above a whisper.

"There's something...?"

The beeping of her earrings sent a jolt through her. She was out of time. It was now or never.

An impromptu idea came to her. She needed him to look away for only a moment. Unfortunately, he showed no sign of doing that on his own. He watched her expectantly, desperation dripping off of him, especially in the way his eyebrows were beginning to knit together under his mask.

She panicked.

"L-Look at that," she stuttered and pointed to a random spot behind him.

His expression steeled and whatever excitement he had over what she might've said instantly vanished, replaced by a cold, sinking feeling. She was going to run away as soon as he turned his back, he knew it. And while he usually just accepted whatever rejection he received, he couldn't handle all this unspoken tension between them, especially after what had just happened during their fight, and especially after he'd spent the last week pondering if maybe there could finally be something more between them. They needed to talk about this. He didn't know if he'd survive another week like this.

"Ladybug-"

" _Please_."

He stopped. Maybe it was the fact that Ladybug was always so confident, but the sudden look of pure terror in her eyes sent a white-hot iron rod right into his heart and he wanted nothing more than to promise her anything she wanted if it could ease that fear away. He didn't know why, but he wouldn't question it. His Lady never asked him for anything, she certainly never begged for anything. If she really wanted him to turn away so she could escape, he'd do it. For her, anything.

He closed his eyes and let out a defeated sigh. He felt his whole body deflate, as if gravity had gotten stronger for him alone. His head, shoulders, even his synthetic ears and tail, dropped down in submission as he slowly turned on his heel and took a step away from her, knowing she'd no longer be there when he turned back.

He stared out into the city, focusing on nothing. He knew damn well she hadn't pointed at anything specific. He felt a twinge of anger boil up in his chest.

A twinge that he quickly smothered back down.

He was frustrated, and that was fine, he allowed himself to be frustrated. But he really shouldn't be angry. Everything aside, he knew she had precious few moments until her transformation wore off and he knew how much keeping her identity a secret meant to her. He supposed he should take this as a hint that she hadn't changed her mind about that, even after all this time. He had no right to be angry over that. He would respect her wishes.

He was no doubt alone at this point. Ladybug had probably fled already, leaving him to his own devices. He hated being alone, especially when he had so much he wanted to say and no one to listen. Knowing he'd been abandoned by his Lady just made him feel even lonelier. He had to talk to someone about this, he needed a friend to lean on right now. He wondered if Marinette was home yet...

His heart nearly stopped when two red-clad arms wrapped around his waist and he felt a hot face nuzzling against the back of his neck as well as a warm body being pressed against him. And not a moment later, he watched as a pink energy pulsed over the two red-clad arms, leaving white sleeves and bare hands in it's wake.

Not only had Ladybug stayed...

She just detransformed... right behind him.

"Don't freak out." Her voice broke, barely above a whisper, as if her unmasked voice would give her away. She clung to him harder as she spoke. He felt her breath tickle the hair on the back of his neck and he couldn't resist the shiver that went up his spine. It happened again when she continued. " _Please_ don't freak out."

He swallowed hard. "T-that's... That's a tall order, My L-Lady." His voice came out strained and mechanical sounding as he did his best to keep his composer.

She tensed against him, which sent another chill through him. "What is?"

He forced himself to breath, releasing one he didn't realize he was holding. "Y-you can't just drop this on me, and expect me not to react..."

When she spoke, her voice was alittle more relaxed. "I didn't ask you not to react, I asked you not to freak out."

" _Same thing_!"

"No it's not."

"Why?"

She huffed. "You can react without freaking out-"

"No." His voice was serious all of the sudden. "That's not what I meant..."

He stood still as a statue and secretly reveled in the feeling of his Lady's body pressed against him. The sinking feeling he had at the thought that she had left him was now gone, replaced with raw excitement, for more reasons than one. The heat of her body melted away all the coldness that had started to build up in his heart, but he had a much more important thing in the forefront of his mind.

"I meant... why... why did you let your transformation wear off here? You had time, you could've gotten away-"

"This was the 'something'." She interrupted quietly.

"W-what?"

"I had started to say there was something I wanted to..." She trailed off when she felt him take her hands in his. A jolt of panic went through her, as she feared he would try and untangle her from him so he could spin around and see her, but he didn't. It was innocent enough, all he did was hold her hands up slightly so he could, she assumed, look at them. This was not the first time he'd seen her bare hands, but he didn't know that.

He knew these hands.

But for the life of him, he couldn't place them. He was so suddenly over whelmed by the fact that he _did_ recognize them. He couldn't get past that fact long enough to try and recall from where. He was so sure he'd seen that scar running up her index finger before. And of all the frustrating things that had happened that day, this was probably the most frustrating.

"Do you..." His head twitched toward the sound of her small voice, he had to resist the urge to turn and look at her. "Do I... seem... familiar?"

It was subconscious, but he slowly started to turn his head to the side, but froze when he felt her tense and rebury her face against his neck. He didn't know if he should tell the truth or not. His mind was still trying to process the fact that, not only was Ladybug standing unmasked behind him, but now he was sure he knew her as someone other than Ladybug. If he turned and saw her bare face, he wouldn't be meeting someone for the first time. He'd be seeing someone he already knew.

But who was she?

To buy himself more time to think, he turned her question back on her. "Does this mean... you changed your mind? About us keeping our identities from each other?" He brought both her hands up to his lips and kissed each of them. "Do you want me to know who you are?"

 _Yes_.

Now that she was actually being faced with the reality of it, in the form of his question, she felt overwhelmed. She shouldn't have improvised like this, she should've come up with a better plan. But of course, now she was stuck because her transformation had worn off, Tikki was exhausted (the kwami having zipping into her sweater immediately upon emerging from the earring and seeing what was happening with Chat), and she couldn't get away if she wanted to.

Chat let out a breathy chuckle. "Nervous, Milady?"

She slowly nodded, knowing he would feel the action against his neck and shoulder.

"I can feel your heartbeat." He whispered. He guided one of her hands to lay flat against his chest, interlacing his fingers through her's as he did so. She felt the hard pounding of his own heart, and didn't know whether or not it was comforting to know that he was just as nervous as she was.

"Do you want to know who _I_ am?"

She hadn't expected the question, and honestly she hadn't even pondered the answer. She supposed she should've guessed that he would feel, at least to some degree, obligated to return the favor if she revealed her own identity. But was she ready for that?

She didn't know.

She didn't actually answer either of his questions, as she was too absorbed in pondering it, and he took her lack of response as a no.

He sighed, unable to hide the feeling of disappointment. He could feel how tense and anxious she was, she was obviously uncomfortable. She probably wanted to try this and see what happened, but was now regretting it and panicking because she had no way out.

Some part of her must want him to know who she is, why else would she risk it like this?

Even if that was true, she clearly wasn't as ready as she thought she was. It was a gutsy move on her part and he wanted nothing more than for her to know he was here for her, no matter what she decided.

They were partners before anything else.

"It's okay... if you're not ready, Milady." He said quietly, trying and failing to not sound saddened. "I won't look. I can help you down-"

"Yes."

"Y-yes...?"

"Yes... I did change my mind."

 _His heartbeat increased._

"B-but... I am... n-nervous." She stuttered out, resting her forehead against his shoulder. He could see strains of blue-black hair flutter down his arm. She continued. "Answer my question."

"Which question?" She had only asked one, but the pounding of his own heartbeat in his ears was throwing off his train of thought. He still wasn't convinced this wasn't a dream.

"Do I seem familiar?" She lowered her voice, speaking against his shoulder blade. "Familiar as someone other than Ladybug..."

She was being honest with him, he supposed he should be honest with her. For good measure, he brought the hand that wasn't laying against his chest up to his mouth to lay more kisses on it.

"Yes."

He expected her to react somehow to the knowledge that they must know each other outside of their masks, but she stood still. Her hold on him tightened ever so much, her forehead still laying on his shoulder.

Either he had somehow spent enough time looking at her hands to know what they looked like, or at least enough to know that he recognized them, or she had been right. It was the luck of the mask that kept people from realize who she was.

She thought that he knew her, as Chat Noir knows Marinette. She didn't even consider that the man under the mask would be the one who was recognizing her hands.

When she spoke again, her voice was steady. "I wanted to... to test out a theory of mine."

She felt him smirk against her hand. "And what theory is that?"

"I've interacted with alot of people as both Ladybug and... and as myself... including you-" (Chat took a moment to try and remember every girl he'd ever come in contact with while in costume without Ladybug being there) "- and no one ever recognizes me. I thought... it had to be something about my mask. Be it magic or luck or something. We've fought alot of akuma victims who are alot better disguised than me and we can always identify them..."

"You've met me as Ladybug when I was out of costume.." He spoke against her hand. "You didn't recognize me either."

"I have?"

He nodded.

There was a period of silence. Neither said anything, and neither felt the need to say anything. Marinette took the time to allow herself to calm down and think about all that had been said, and also to plan her next move. Chat Noir was just enjoying being held by her, even if he couldn't see her face.

Marinette decided on one thing.

This was something that should be taken in baby steps. She was on her way to revealing her identity, but in that moment...

She knew she wasn't ready yet.

"Milady...?"

He spoke when he felt her start to loosen her grip on him. She locked her eyes on the rooftop door that lead into the building they stood on, and she was mentally plotting her escape.

"Hmm?" She responded.

He tightened his grip on her hands, fingers interlaced, he held them both against his chest. He could tell she was preparing to do something, but he wasn't ready for her to go.

"You know I _adore_ you, don't you?"

She froze, her heart hit the floor. She wasn't expecting that. If he said that two years ago, she would've made a comment about how 'Ladybug' was the one he adored, but she was long past that. She _was_ Ladybug. She found that she wanted him to keep talking. He did.

"I..." His words came out in a shaky whisper. "With or without the mask, I think you're amazing. I always have. You're my partner, my best friend, I don't know what I would do without you. I've literally spend the past week waiting until I would see you again. I couldn't stop thinking about you. I couldn't stop thinking about the last time I saw you. It's been different between us, I know you felt it. But I don't want you to think I'm just some tomcat getting worked up, there's more than that..." He paused, as if to work up the courage to continue. "I really am serious about... about you. You are..."

He stopped to draw in a deep breath and she almost burst with anticipation of what he might say.

"You are my _everything_."

His sudden sincerity hit her right in the chest, the force being enough that she felt physical pain. This was the last thing she expected when she decided to do this. Granted, she didn't know what she expected, but seeing this soft and serious side from her normally goofy and teasing partner... On top of how shaken she already was from everything else...

She became overwhelmed.

She couldn't take it.

"You don't even know my first name."

Her voice was not angry, not spiteful, or anything like that. It held little emotion at all. She wasn't contradicting or arguing with him.

She was stating a fact.

He stiffened up as she pulled away from him, regret washing over him. Suddenly forgetting about not looking at her, he spun around to try and catch her, but all he caught was a glimpse of raven hair before the door shut behind her.

He knew better than to try and follow her. Although he'd never admit it, he'd tried before. She had a talent for eluding him.

He collapsed to his knees, a clawed hand gripping down on his heart. He didn't know what possessed him to say all that, his intention was to reassure her that he'd love her no matter who she was under her mask, but he'd obviously said too much. He came on too strong. He'd scared her off.

The sinking feeling in his chest returned, the cold lonely once again creeping up on him. Only this time it was worse, because this time, it was absolutely his own fault.

He couldn't be alone right now. He just couldn't. Pulling himself to his feet, he set out back toward the school. His mind was reeling, but he attempted to put all thoughts on hold. If he broke now, he'd never make it to his final destination. He wasn't a stranger to holding in his emotion, a skill he was now grateful for. He reached the school in no time, the damage caused by the akuma attack was no longer there, and neither were all the students. It was nighttime now, and even if it wasn't, the school always sent students home either when there was an attack.

He entered the building with ease, not having to worry about being seen. He stood in the open courtyard and his eyes found what they were looking for.

Marinette's sketchbook was still on the ground.

He remembered her dropping it when the first explosion happened, and apparently, she hadn't come back for it. That was advantageous for him, as he now had a good excuse to go see her.

He never really needed an excuse to visit her, but he already felt like he'd been rejected once, he needed insurance that it wouldn't happen again. She couldn't send him away, because he had a reason to be there. Not that she would send him away, he thought, as Marinette was a very sweet girl who was surprisingly perceptive to when he was feeling some type of way and needed companionship.

Besides, returning her sketchbook to her was the least he could do, considering the God-awful display he was sure he was about to put on.

...

 **More Chapters Coming Soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**_In which emotions run high and a phone call is made._**

"Well," Marinette spoke aloud, her kwami peeking out from her cleavage, a favorite hiding spot of her's during the cold time of year, because of the warmth. "That was awful."

"It's could've been worse..." Tikki tried to sound encouraging, but her words had an air of uncertainty in them. They both knew Marinette was right.

"It could've been a whole lot better, too." She sighed. She was rather enjoying her walk home, as the crisp air was biting enough to rouse her out of whatever heated state she had been in, and the low impact excersize gave her the chance to clear her head and think reasonably.

In hindsight, she knew she could've handled that so much better than she did. She knew she probably left him feeling awful and guilt clawed at her chest. She hadn't meant to come across like she was rejecting him, as he most likely took it as. But in the moment, she genuinely could think of nothing else besides, how can you say all that when you don't even know my first name?

Yet.

He didn't know her first name, yet.

She let out an audible sigh and the sprite in her shirt responded with a giggle.

"There was no way you've expected him to say all that, Marinette." As always, Tikki was reading her mind. "You were overwhelmed with emotion, no one can blame you for not thinking clearly. There's no right way to react to that, after all."

"Yeah, I guess, but..." She let out a frustrated sigh as she rounded a corner, her home in sight. "I just feel bad."

They put a pause in their conversation as Marinette approached the bakery and Tikki ducked back down into her sweater. Marinette offered a friendly greeting to some passing neighbors, entered her home, and was welcomed by her worried parents.

She had already conjured up a story of how her and Alya had sought refuge together after their school was attacked, and they'd waited until they knew it was safe to return home. She'd already texted Alya to, first ask if she was okay, and second to confirm the story just in case it ever came up around her parents. Alya not only accepted the story, but also said that she herself would use the excuse, as it was a much better story than telling her own parents that she'd actually been with Nino. Alya, of course, thought that the truth was that Marinette was with Adrien, and Marinette didn't bother to correct her, simply agreeing that, that was their story and they would stick to it.

Her parents bought the story easily, as she knew they would. The fact that she was safe was much more important to them than the fact that she should've been home hours ago. That was one of the few advantages to living in a city that was always under attack.

Bidding them both Goodnight, she climbed the steps to her bedroom before dropping her bag and slumping into her office chair, groaning as she did so. She should've expected that hard fall after being tackled to leave a lasting ache in her back. Tikki flew out of her sweater and took a seat on her desk.

"I should've had a better plan than that." Marinette started, their conversation resuming as if it hadn't stopped. "I absolutely didn't think that through well enough."

The kwami smiled affectionately. "Well, you tried, and that's still something, considering what you were trying to do. It's still a big step. And look at it this way," Her large eyes lit up and she gestured grandly with her small paws. "When the time comes that you do eventually reveal your identity to him, you'll be able to look back on this and laugh!"

Marinette let out a chuckle. Tikki was right, when she thought about it like that. Feeling somewhat comforted, she rose to her feet and began the process of changing into her at-home clothes. She donned a white camisole and pink pajama shorts, pulling on a black zip-up hoodie to combat the chill that would inevitably creep into her attic bedroom. She stood for a moment more before deciding to pull on some knee high black socks as well. She did have hard wood floors after all.

She settled back down in her chair, and winced as a soreness pulsed through her back. She had taken a pretty hard fall, but she brushed it off. It wasn't the first time she'd been sore after a fight and it damn sure wouldn't be the last. She was intent on doing some more sketching as she thought out a better plan for her next attempt, and also a way to make it up to Chat Noir for the way she'd reacted to his...

What was that even?

A love confession?

She supposed that was what he had been getting at, even though he hadn't actually said it like that. The idea made her chest feel tight again.

She'd wondered before if he had been serious when he made passes at her, or if he was just a flirt.

He had literally said to her, I'm serious about you.

He told her that she was his everything.

And hearing it made her heart swell. Now, thinking back to it, she felt a powerful warmth start in her chest and spread through her body and she had the sudden urge to bounce and squeal like she was fourteen again. A huge smile made it's home on her face and she couldn't hold it in even if she wanted to.

And then it vanished as a new thought came to mind.

"Oh my God, he poured his heart out to me and I ran away!" She said out loud, giddiness suddenly replaced with distress. "I might've broken his little heart, he probably thinks that I was rejecting him. God, what did I do?"

She buried her face in her hands and her kwami floated up to nuzzle the top of her head.

"Calm down, Marinette, it's okay." She said in a soothing voice. "It was a mistake. Next time you see him, you can just calmly explain that you were so taken back by his words, that you didn't know what to do. It's the truth, isn't it?"

"It is, but..." She sighed dramatically and plucked Tikki from her hair so she could roll her head back to stare at the ceiling. After a moment, she straightened herself up again and met eyes with the sprite who now sat in her palm. "What if he's mad? What if it gets weird between us next time we have to fight, and we don't work as well as a team? Or what if I do apologize and he accepts but then he wants to know what I actually think?"

Tikki's eyes became lidded in a stern express which almost looked comical on her tiny face. "You know he could never stay mad, and I really don't think he's the type to demand an answer from you about his feelings. Remember earlier, he said it was okay if you weren't ready. And you're not ready. He understands that-"

She was interrupted by a loud and almost insistent knock, coming from the hatch leading to the balcony.

"Oh my God, Tikki," Marinette whispered. The knock, which happened occasionally and never really bothered her before, was on this night sending her into a small panic. "What do I do? What do I say?!"

"He still doesn't know it's you!" Tikki whispered back, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. "Just do and say what feels right!"

And with that, she zipped away to hide.

Marinette took a moment to breath, willing her pulse back down to a reasonable level. She'd hadn't been expecting this, and she was not prepared. She didn't have a plan or any idea what to expect.

Well, here we go.

She rushed to pull some papers out of her backpack in an attempt to look like she had been doing something other than having a conversation with a sprite, before she yelled, "It's open!"

Slowly, almost painfully slow, Chat Noir opened the hatch, dropped down on her loft, and descended the steps down into her room. He had something tucked under his arm, which he gently laid down on the corner of her desk. It was her sketchbook.

"I think this is your's."

His voice was quiet and monotone. She studied him. His expression was blank, unreadable if you didn't know what to look for. His eyes were out of focus, his lips tilted down at the corners ever so slightly, his shoulders slumped. There was no cheerfulness in him, none of the usual jovial greetings. His body was stiff, arms hanging lifelessly at his sides.

"Thank you." She responded, taking the book and examining it. She remembered dropping it, but she didn't even realize she'd forgotten it. But honestly, she didn't give a damn about the sketchbook in that moment, so she set it aside. "Are you okay?"

Being asked if he was okay seemed to be the straw that started to brake him, as she saw his lips tremble as his resolve started to crumble. He shook his head without making eye contact.

"What's the matter?"

She knew what was the matter, and she wanted to punch herself in the face for doing this to him.

In an instant, he was on his knees before her, arms crossed over her lap and face buried in the crook of his elbow. He let out a few shaky breaths and she wondered if he was weeping. But when he finally looked up at her with the most heart wrenching expression, his eyes were dry.

"I fucked up, Marinette."

She wanted to cry.

"Oh, kitty," She rubbed his shoulder in wide circles while her other hand caressed his hair. She did her best to put on a comforting smile, despite her own heart clenching. "You didn't fuck up-"

"I did though, I completely fucked up!" He cried out. He removed his arms from her lap so he could drape himself limply over her, laying his cheek on her leg, the top of his head nuzzling into her stomach. His arms hung down on either side of the chair. She rubbed his back as he continued. "Ladybug doesn't love me..."

 _Pow_ , right in the heart.

"W-what give you that idea?"

He more or less ignored her question as he continued. "I thought everything was finally starting to fall into place because she said she'd be my date to the Mayor's Christmas thing and she said there was no one she'd rather go with than me! And..."

He leaned back and sat on his knees, looking up at her with those kitten eyes, and he brought his hands to his cheeks.

"And she did this thing where she held my face," his eyes slipped shut as his fingers imitated the way Ladybug had traced his face a week ago, and he missed how red Marinette's own cheeks were turning. "And she kissed my cheek and... I don't know, I know it was just a cheek peck, but it felt..." He let out a dreamy sigh to communicate how exactly it felt.

He opened his eyes, suddenly filled with excitement. "And she did it again today! It wasn't just me flirting, we were both flirting... with _each other_! She flirted back at me! It... it felt different today. We were different... there was this... energy in the air, I felt like it was pulling me towards her. And I _know_ she felt it to, I could _see_ it. I saw the way she looked at me, and at one point she even told me that I looked amazing..."

He trailed off, cheeks reddening, and seemed to decide against sharing that part of the story.

 _As if Marinette didn't know what he was referring to._

"Anyway," he rubbed the back of his neck, his energy calming down into something a bit more serious. "Marinette, she dropped her transformation. It didn't run out on accident, like I thought at the time, she purposefully let it run out."

 _True_.

"She hugged me and I saw her hands... Her bare hands, Marinette!" He smiled warmly. "I know that doesn't seem like much, but they were _her_ hands."

God, he was breaking her heart with how innocent he actually was. He was spilling praises with such child-like wonder, she was sick with herself for hurting him.

"I recognized her hands the instant I saw them..."

 _Oh God._

"I _know_ I've seen those hands before..."

 _Oh Jesus._

"But I can not, for the life of me remember from where..."

 _Oh Thank Heaven._

"But Marinette, I do know her from somewhere. I know her as someone other than Ladybug. _And_ , she said she changed her mind about us knowing each other's identities!"

She offered an 'Oh!', trying to sound surprised.

"But then I fucked up." The dark cloud returned to him, his face once again twisting into that pained expression that, Marinette decided, should never be on his face. "I don't know, she was nervous, and so was I, and I wanted to let her know that, whoever she is under that mask... won't change how I feel about her. I want her _so bad_ , nothing could stop me from..." He closed his eyes and sighed. "I fucked up and told her that I love her..."

She did her best to stifle the sharp intake of breath from being too audible.

He hadn't actually said it.

But by Jove, he just did.

"... And I should've just kept my mouth shut. She got angry and ran off-"

"I... She wasn't angry." Marinette interrupted.

He looked up at her again with despair in his eyes, and spoke with an almost pleading tone. "How do you know?"

Marinette let out a sigh of her own. Despite the whirlwind of conflicting emotion tumbling around in her chest, she wanted nothing more than to sooth his sadness away. And acting in third person did help her put words to her feelings.

She reached out to cup his cheeks, brushing her thumbs over his skin. "Yeah, you came on a bit strong, but... she wasn't angry. Just surprised..." She bit her lip absentmindedly before continuing. "... and maybe a little bit over whelmed."

He scoffed, but still had that hurt in his eyes. "So I _did_ scare her off."

"Ladybug ain't scared of anything."

He stared at the floor for a moment, and the shrugged. "Not like it matters, because she's probably never going to want to speak to me again-"

"Okay, now you're just being dramatic."

He continued like he didn't hear her. "I thought she was finally starting to like me... and I probably said too much and freaked her out. What if she doesn't want to be partners anymore?" At his last statement, his voice suddenly hitched. He sighed again and leaned his forehead against her knee. "I just really thought that it was starting to happen because she was being flirty and kissed my cheek and said she's be my date and..."

He stopped, the silence that followed was so stifling that Marinette began to worry over what he was going to say next. Slowly, he raised his head off her knee. His face was a painful mixture of heartbreak and realization. His eyes were glued to the floor, but were unfocused. When he spoke at last, his voice was quiet and sent a cold spike into Marinette's heart.

"...I was over thinking it, wasn't I?"

 _Wham_ , right in the chest.

"I got excited and hopeful and I imagined it all up."

 _Bang_ , right in the stomach.

"She was never interested in me..."

"Okay, stop."

Slowly, reluctantly almost, he raised his head to peer up at her through his messy bangs. She didn't know what she was going to say to him, but she did know that if he kept on like that, her heart might actually burst.

 _Tell him, Stupid! Tell him now!_

"Um..."

 _Tell him!_

"You weren't over thinking..."

 _Tell him, tell him, tell him, you selfish bitch!_

He raised his head up just slightly to look at her properly.

"And you know that nothing would make her want to stop being partners with you."

 _Ugh, you coward, Marinette..._

He sighed again. "But what if she does? What if it gets weird between us?"

"It won't."

"How do you know, though?" He twiddled his fingers absentmindedly. "I can't lose her, I just can't! I poured my heart out to her and she ran away. How can it not be weird after that?" He groaned and brought his hand up to his forehead.

She wanted to scoop him up and hold him and tell him that it was her fault and to not be upset, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Not only that, but she thought that revealing herself as Ladybug now, after he just recounted all the things that he felt about Ladybug, would probably make him feel more embarrassed rather than comforted.

"Just... trust me." She replaced her hand on his cheek and tried to will his anguish away. "Ladybug just... reacted poorly. But I... I think she was probably just not expecting all that, and she felt overwhelmed and didn't know what to do. She knows she shouldn't have run off on you like that, and I promise you, next time you see her, she'll apologize."

She continued, despite him making a small huff in disbelief. "I mean, now that you've explained it, I understand why you thought that was a good time for... for a confession like that, but at the time, it was just too much. Almost revealing my... her secret identity, plus hearing all that from you..."

He looked thoughtful for a moment, placing his hand atop her own on his cheek and leaning into it. He breathed deeply, eyes going out of focus. "I... I guess that makes sense. You're saying that I over loaded her, and that's why she ran off... ?"

She released a breath of relief. "Yes, exactly."

He peeled her hand off of his cheek and stood, turning and taking a few steps away. He stood with his back to her for a time before he let out a frustrated sound and collapsed face down on her lounger. He turned his head so she could hear his words without the barrier of the pillow.

"I'm sorry for just coming over here and venting all this to you, Marinette."

She smiled, even though he couldn't see it. "Oh no, it's okay."

"I just... really needed a friend..."

"You know I'll always be there for you."

 _Even after I run off on you..._

He was silent after that, as was she. She wondered if he would believe her words or if he would chalk them up to her just trying to make him feel better.

After a long pause, he turned his head towards her, not looking at her but staring at nothing. "Assuming everything that you've said is true... that still leaves one thing though."

She tilted her head in curiosity. "What's that?"

"Ladybug doesn't feel the same towards me... as I feel towards her. Does she."

It wasn't a question. He said it like it was a harsh reality. A heartbreaking resignation. She saw his eyes well up with moisture and her throat about damn near closed up.

"She... she does feel something for you." She spoke quietly, unsure of her words, but certain in her delivery. He met her gaze but his expression didn't change. She continued. "She's..." She released a shaky breath and realized she had no idea how she could say this as Marinette. "She's just... nervous... and-"

"It's okay, Marinette." He said suddenly, and sat up. "You don't have to try and make me feel better."

"But it's true-"

"No, it's not." His words came out harsh, colder than he meant for them to. Marinette's mouth snapped shut. His brows knit together and he looked away. "I know Ladybug better than anyone. We're partners, and we've been partners for years. We can tell what each other is thinking half the time, that's why we fight so well together. I can tell when she's nervous." He squeezed his eyes shut, resisting the urge to crumble at what he would say next. "And I can tell when she's rejecting me... she's done it enough times before..."

He watched Marinette get this desperate look on her face, raising her hands slightly in almost a reaching gesture. "Chat, you..." She made a noise that he couldn't quite put an emotion to. "I can't really explain it, but you have to trust me when I tell you that I... know what's going on in her head, and-"

"No, _I_ know what's going on in her head, and she doesn't want me."

Her face and body stance became slightly more defiant, but her voice remained, more or less, calm. She let out a humorless chuckle. "Oh, you have _no idea_ what's going on in her head."

Why did that make him angry? He recalled from that day at school, talking to Marinette about Ladybug and learning that she knew her, Marinette said she knew her about as well as she knew herself. He didn't quite know what she meant by that, but she probably did know her better than he did. But for some reason, having her tell him he didn't know what was going on her head... he was her partner! Of course he did!

...Didn't he?

Although his confidence on that particular subject wavered, he wouldn't allow Marinette to see. He felt a strange possessiveness rise up in him, and when he spoke, his words were thick with defiance.

" _Nobody_ knows Ladybug better than _me_."

Marinette didn't falter, looked him straight in the eye, and spoke confidently without missing a beat.

"What's her first name?"

Oh.

They stared at each other for a long moment, his bravado fading with each passing second. She was looking at him with that stare again, the one where he was sure she could see through him. The intense look did nothing to calm his nerves and suddenly he felt very insecure. He should've known better than to challenge her. He knew that she knew more about Ladybug than him. But that begged a question.

"You... you _do_ know her first name, don't you?" He asked quietly, hopefulness rising in his tone.

Marinette looked at him a moment longer before nodding slowly. "It's like I said earlier-"

"Why do _you_ know and _I_ don't?!" He said suddenly, fists gripping the edge of the lounger. " _I'm_ her partner!"

"Oh, c'mon!" She smacked her palms to her forehead in exasperation.

"No, tell me, why do you know her and I don't?" He demanded. He leaned forward, looking almost threatening.

Marinette leaned her elbows on her desk and buried her face in her hands, groaning as she did. "You're really going to make me say it, aren't you." She said it quietly, she couldn't decide if she wanted him to hear her or not.

If he did hear her, he ignored it. "Actually, what I really want to know is, how are you so sure that she ran off from me because she was nervous? How can you say she feels something for me and be so sure?" His voice had started in a demanding tone, but as he went on, it became more pleading.

"I just know, okay?" She said defensively. "You just have to trust me, I told you, I know what's going on in her head." She peeked at him, her fingers moving to run through her hair.

He let out a groan of his own, leaning back on his hands and squeezing his eyes shut. His head rolled back and he stared up at the ceiling. When he looked back down at her, his shoulders relaxed from their previous tension. "I'm sorry, Marinette, I don't mean to argue with you, I'm just... ugh, I'm so frustrated!"

"I know, hun." She was too, but she kept it to herself.

He breathed out an audible huff through his nose. When he first learned that Marinette knew Ladybug and came up with the idea of using her as a wing woman of sorts, this isn't at all what he had in mind. This whole situation was just going to shit, and despite the fact that she sounded so completely sure of herself, he couldn't shake the notion that she could just be telling him what she knew he wanted to hear so that he would cheer up. And while it made a part of him very thankful to think that she cared enough to just want to see him happy, at that moment, he wanted to truth. Not a sugarcoated encouragement. And call him crazy, he knew that Marinette did know the truth. He just couldn't tell if she was telling it to him or not. And the idea was driving him crazy.

What's more, why did it seem like she was taking this so personally?

"Marinette, please..." He looked at her until she faced him again without her hands over her forehead. "Just... tell me what I'm supposed to do now. I'm so lost, I don't know what to think or how to feel. Just tell it to me straight." The emotion in his eyes increased tenfold.

"Why did she run away when I told her my feelings?"

"Because she's scared you won't like the girl under the mask."

He was visible taken back by her sudden answer. "What? That's... that's silly. I told her, with or without the mask-"

"It's easy to say that when you don't actually know whose under the mask." She looked almost offended, though he couldn't understand why. "You idolize her, you talk about her like she could cure cancer just by smiling at you, I've _never_ seen you light up the way you just did when you were describing her, you practically _worship_ her. You think she's perfect. She is _not_ perfect, she is so far from perfect..."

She sighed and dipped her head, like the weight of her own words were coming down on her, and he briefly wondered if she might be jealous of Ladybug. "You don't talk about her like she's a person. You talk about her like she's a God or something. And that's a lot of fucking pressure..."

"Marinette, I don't get it, what are you saying?"

She bit her lower lip, looking very contemplative. His only hint that she was nervous was her chest, which he noticed was trembling ever so slightly from her short, shallow breathing.

"I... I told you." She began slowly. "It was overwhelming." She looked away from him, staring down at her hands, which were folded together on her desk. "I mean... that's a tall order, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"Y-you can't just... drop something like that on someone and expect them not to react."

She didn't look at him. She couldn't. He didn't say anything after that, and she prayed that she wouldn't need to say anything more. Those were the exact words he had used earlier with Ladybug. Surely, he would connect the dots now?

"Marinette...?"

"Yeah?"

She still didn't look at him directly, but from her peripheral vision, she saw him shift about anxiously from his spot on the lounger. His voice held a nervousness to it and she couldn't interpret whether or not he had in fact picked up on what she was trying to say.

"Does Ladybug feel anything for me?"

If he hadn't figured it out already, she was sure the burning blush on her cheeks would give her away now.

"Um..."

She drew in a nervous breath, and released it.

"I..."

The clenching returned to her chest, but this time, it was not from despair.

"I think... she always has... felt _something_ for you, b-but she's just recently started to realize... how d-deep it was."

As soon as she said it out loud, she thought of Adrien. Was she really choosing Chat Noir over him? She hadn't wanted to voice her affections until she was absolutely sure of them, but in that moment, she just wanted Chat to be happy.

That was wrong.

Marinette firmly believed that the cruelest thing you could do to someone was tell them you love them when you don't. Giving someone false hope was worse than any direct insult. And while it was technically true what she had said, as she did feel something for him, she knew she was not yet ready to promise him her whole heart.

Earlier that same day, she had repeated the face caressing on Adrien. Reason being, similarly to why she did it on Chat, she wanted to know how it felt. She wanted to see how it made her feel, and see if she'd want to do it again. With Chat, there was no doubt in her mind that she did indeed want to touch him again, feel his skin, and see the look in his eyes when she did. With Adrien... her reaction wasn't as strong. It felt like it wasn't the first time she'd done that to him. She'd be lying if she said she'd felt nothing, but it wasn't quite the same. Or rather, it was the same. Strikingly similar. Adrien had reacted exactly the same way Chat had, from the look in his eyes, to the way his breath hitched. If her eyes had been closed, she could've almost sworn they were the same person.

As if she would be so lucky.

Perhaps she would choose Chat Noir over Adrien, she had certainly been leaning more towards him recently. But she still had Adrien in her heart.

Maybe it was nerves getting to her, because Chat Noir was right here in front of her and had directly asked her if she had feelings for him. Perhaps the feeling of being pressured into revealing her feelings was causing her to retreat. As soon as he left, the pressure would be gone and she could think clearly.

Right?

Meanwhile, Chat Noir himself had realized that it was not jealousy that made Marinette say what she said, it was something else entirely. He was tossing a few ideas around in his head. There were a few possibilities, he decided.

The first, was that Marinette was psychic, and using her psychic powers, had looked into his mind, right into the memory he had of the events from the rooftop with Ladybug, and that's how she knew exactly what he had said to Ladybug, down to the exact wording. And it was by pure chance that Marinette and Ladybug had the exact same pair of piercing, sapphire eyes, as he was just now realizing.

The second possibility, was that Marinette was actually a very talented spy, and she had actually witnessed the whole thing with her own eyes, unbeknownst to either superhero. Or perhaps there was a security camera on that rooftop that she had access to. And she also just so happen to have the same thick, raven locks that Ladybug had.

Pure coincidence, he was sure.

The third and most likely possibility, in his opinion, was that Marinette and Ladybug were actually long lost identical twins and were _definitely_ not the same person.

Because that was impossible.

Right?

 _Right?_

He didn't say anything and she still didn't look at him. He could see the oh so familiar anxiety in the way her shoulders trembled and her breathing was deliberate and shaky, the sight was oh so very Marinette.

She didn't hear him get up, she didn't hear him approach her, and she didn't realize he was standing behind her until he reached out and lightly grasped both her wrists in his hands (a startled breath escaped her at the contact), gently pull her hands free of one another, and then held them both in his own hands.

She couldn't see him, as her eyes were locked straight ahead of her. She took in the sight of his gloves, his claws, everything, as he weighed, turned, and all around examined her hands. She could feel his energy behind her. His body was close, not quite touching her, but she could hear his breathing just above her head. It wasn't until he seemed to find what he was looking for that he pulled away, not before making a small gasping sound, his hands just ghosting away from hers', that she realized what he had been doing.

She heard him take a few steps back and she still couldn't bring herself to turn and look at him. Her hands hung limply in the air in front of her for a moment, but she slowly brought them together again, cupping one in the other, and brought them both to her chest.

Ladybug's bare hands had been the one part of her that he saw when she dropped her transformation.

"Marinette."

His voice, although quiet, sounded loud and piercing in the otherwise silent room.

"Look at me."

She tried. She couldn't.

"Marinette, look at me." He voice was harder now, more demanding.

"I..."

She didn't expect him to forcibly spin her chair around, she didn't expect him to slam his hands down on the arms of her chair, effectively cornering her, and she certainly didn't expect him to suddenly be right in her face, staring her down.

"Look at me."

That time, the words were barely a whisper. But combined with how close his face was, and the almost pleading look in his eyes, they had the biggest punch.

She tried to put on a brave face, tried to harden her gaze, and even tried to come back with a quip about him not telling her what to do. But all that she managed to do was will her gasp down to a less audible breathy sound.

They stared at each other, her eyes wide, his eyes searching. He looked almost desperate as his gazed wondered over her face, looking for something. The tightness returned to her chest with more ferocity the longer he stared at her, she knew he was searching her features for Ladybug.

And apparently, he found her.

His eyes twitched, pupils blown wide in recognition. He slowly removed his hands from the arms of her chair and took a step backwards, never breaking eye contact.

The air was suddenly thick with tension again, not at all like before. The unspoken truth hung over their heads and neither wanted to be the one to verbally acknowledge it. Chat Noir looked very much like he would either pass out or retreat, while Marinette was slowly trying to calm herself by silently repeating _This is what you wanted._

Not the reveal she had pictured, but then again, she had never pictured it. Only mused about ways she could go about it.

Chat Noir, her partner, knew her secret identity. The secret she had guarded for years, the secret she kept from him simply because she thought she should, was now laid out before him.

She expected to feel some kind of relief, having finally completed the task which she had assigned herself. She'd been thinking about this for months, and actively planing it for weeks. The intention was that once it was all out in the open, at least between the two of them, there would be no more secrets. She would finally be able to stop pretending like she was two entities. When he visited her as Marinette, she would no longer need to pretend she wasn't the same girl who made the rooftops of Paris their playground.

She had imagined that revealing her civilian self to him would... somehow make Ladybug seem more real. He'd often go on about how otherworldly and amazing she was, and she wanted so much to show him that, no, she was just as human as everyone else. It was exhausting being Ladybug. She needed to be able to be vulnerable and flawed and she wanted someone who saw both sides and didn't think less of her. Ladybug could be vulnerable, just like Marinette could be amazing without the mask. That's why she wanted him to know her identity in the first place. She had expected to feel relief upon finally revealing that to him.

She didn't.

Very much the opposite.

Panic and regret and... what was that? Hurt? Yes, hurt. He had not yet reacted and was just continuing to stare at her. She didn't know what she expected him to do, but the longer he stood there, gaping, the more powerful her insecurities became, and she realized that she might have just ruined everything. She was sure that he didn't expect his partner and love interest to be the same person that he would visit after an easy fight or uneventful patrol, but was he really that disappointed? Would he never visit Marinette again? Never look at Ladybug with the same adoration again? Would it be awkward now?

He had been wanting to know her identity since they first became partners, and now he couldn't even work up a reaction?

She turned away from him when she realized her lip had began to tremble.

"Well..." She started. She hadn't planned to be the one to break first, but she couldn't stand the silence anymore. She turned her back to him, removing all sight of him from her peripheral vision. "It's getting pretty late, so..."

He still said nothing, and she could no longer see his face. A burning feeling rose up her chest and prickled behind her eyes. She blinked furiously, refusing to let tears flow.

"...so... th-thank you for bringing me my sketchbook."

Her voice cracked as she spoke. She squeezed her eyes shut, a few tears escaping as she did, and she drew in a deep breath through her nose. She was embarrassed to find that it took quite a bit of effort to keep silent, as what she really wanted to do was sob.

Well, if this sorry display didn't drive home the fact that she was indeed very vulnerable, she didn't know what would. No wonder he was disappointed. Ladybug, the girl who carried Paris on her shoulders, the girl who could best foes who were ten times her size, the girl who once defeated five enemies with a power cord and a yoyo, was sitting here, literally struggling to keep from crying like a bitch.

She knew that she wasn't always right, there were plenty of times when she acted rashly, but she had never been weak before. After everything that the had been through together, all the enemies they faced, all the battles they'd fought and won, the thing that finally broke her was the fact that her partner was stunned silent by learning her true identity.

She hadn't even noticed him move, but suddenly he was standing behind her again. She saw his hand out of the corner of her eye. He didn't touch her, but his hand lingered in the air above her shoulder. His fingers twitched, withdrew slightly, then slowly lowered down to touch her. She didn't react to the touch.

He didn't turn her around, as he had done before. He didn't say anything. But when she didn't reject his touch, he squeezed her shoulder in his palm, placed his other hand on her other shoulder, and coaxed her to lean back in her chair.

She didn't wipe the tear from her cheeks, deciding that she didn't care if he saw them. It was ridiculous to expect a person, especially someone who saved lives as an extracurricular activity, to be completely headstrong and stoic all the time.

When her chair leaned back as far as it would go, he lightly trailed his hands from her shoulders, across her collarbone, up to her jaw, and lightly nudged her to tilt her head back. She did so reluctantly after squeezing her eyes shut.

She felt a light pressure, warm and soft, on her forehead. She opened her eyes and found her vision clouded by the black leather of his mask, his own eyes shut as he kissed her forehead.

Oddly enough, it was the sudden and very unexpected show of affection that caused a feeling of relief wash over her. She had been so sure this was terrible idea, and with one little action that took less than a second, he had her reassured. The tears welled up in her eyes once more, but for a new reason.

It was silence, save for the sound of their mixed breathing. Her's, choppy and his, deep. Her neck was beginning to feel the strain of her position, but she dare not voice it.

He pulled back from her just enough that they could look into each other's upside down eyes. She could tell he was smiling by the way his eyes scrunched up at the corners. She saw wetness threaten to spill from his eyes as well.

A single tear did escape, landing on her cheek. He pulled away quickly, taking a step back again. She rolled her neck once, to ease the discomfort, and then turned to look at him. He was facing away from her this time, towards the window with one hand on his hip. A small sliver of his face was still visible. The apples of his cheeks were pronounced from his wide smile. He had a single finger up under his eyes in an attempt to inconspicuously dab away his tears.

She blinked at him, her own remaining tears spilling freeing down her cheeks. He was smiling and crying.

"U-um.." He coughed, voice broken a bit, and then cleared his throat. "You're welcome..." He coughed again. "F-for your sketchbook, I mean. Uh..."

He didn't face her, but she realized she could make out his reflection in the glass pane of the window. His expression melted her heart. His smile was wide, very wide. His eyebrows knit together and his eyes shined. He looked about ready to burst.

"B-but, it is getting late so..." He stopped, his eyes suddenly going wide, smiling dropping, and it was hard to tell from his reflection in the glass, but his cheeks seemed to darken considerably. His synthetic cat ears went flat against his head as his eyes darted around, and he accidentally made eye contact through the reflection of the window.

He smiled again and waved awkwardly. She let out a chuckle and gave him a questioning expression. He laughed, although clearly uncomfortable, and finally turned to face her properly.

He still looked ready to burst, but not for the same reason. His cheeks were indeed much darker than they had been, his smile forced and eyes wide, and she wondered why he was suddenly so nervous.

"Well," he said, hands behind his back and rocking on the balls of his feet. "I-I guess I'll say goodnight now..." He inched his way to the stairs that lead to the balcony. "A-and... we can just forget about everything I said earlier... Hehehe..."

Ah. So that's where his nervous energy came from.

She laughed. She couldn't help it. And after a brief moment, he laughed too, though the nervous tension didn't leave him.

When her laughter subsided, she sighed comfortably and smiled at him. "It's okay. You said some things, I said some things..."

"Oh God, you did...!" His hands covered his mouth as he stared again. His cheeks were still beet red, but his eyes told her he was smiling again behind his gloves. "I...I..."

"Goodnight, _Chaton_."

She smiled warmly at him, and she felt her own cheeks heat up. His hands dropped, revealing his own heart melting smile. He lowered himself down to one knee, as he had done countless times before, took her hand and pressed his lips to it. When he looked back up and made eye contact again, his signature Chat Noir grin was back in place and in full effect.

"Goodnight." He stood and bounded up to her loft. " _Milady_." And with that, he was gone.

In the instant he left, she felt so emotionally drained, that she didn't even bother trying to think about what had just happened and figure out how she should feel about it. She had plenty of time to worry about that... tomorrow.

Also in the instant he left, Tikki made an appearance. The kwami hovered before her chosen, a large, giddy smile on her face.

"That was so cute!" the kwami cooed. "How do you feel, Marinette?"

She gave her a tired smile. "I feel like I'm ready for bed."

...

There had been many occasions where Chat Noir had run home with a quickness, but never had he gotten home _that_ quick. The leather clad hero sprinted across the rooftops of Paris as if the devil himself were at his heels.

Because he knew the instant he stopped, the instant the loud rush of wind in his ears was gone and could no longer drowned out his thoughts, he would start thinking. And as soon as he started thinking, he'd start over-thinking. And once that happened, he'd be done for. He wanted to at least be home and out of the cold first.

He'd completely forgotten about the fact that he hadn't come home after school, and considering the akuma attack, he was sure all the parents had been notified. That's what usually happened. Fuck. He'd have to come up with a story as to why he was out so late.

He landed around the corner from his home and detransformed. He checked his phone to see what time it actually was, almost 9, and realized his phone had been blowing up while he was transformed.

(6 Missed Calls From Home)

(10 New Messages From Nino)

 **-Dude, you still with Marinette?**

 **-Alya told me you were with Marinette when the attack happened. Yall okay?**

 **-Bro, you guys good?**

 **-Adrien?**

 **-Alya and I were hiding out together too.**

 **-Just talked to Alya, she talked to Marinette. Said you guys are okay.**

 **-If anyone asks, the story is you and I were waiting out the attack together, without the girls. Marinette and Alya are telling their folks they were together without us. We're all each other's alibis. Marinette's idea.**

 **-Tell your old man he can call my dad if he needs. He bought the story. Alya's and Mari's folks did too.**

 **\- What'd you and Marinette talk about?**

 **\- (;**

Well, that solved one of his problems, but it also caused him to get smacked in the face with another problem. He wasn't ready to start freaking out yet, he needed to be safely in his room before that happened, but he couldn't stop one thought from forming.

 _Of course Marinette would be the one to form a perfect alibi that they could all use, she was probably very experienced in coming up with excuses as to where she was all the time_ ** _because she was Ladybug!_**

Gah! No! Not yet! Just get in the damn house first!

He'd been more or less ignoring Plagg, who hadn't stopped laughing since emerging from his ring. He took the kwami, albeit a bit too harshly, and shoved him into the breast pocket of his jacket as he jogged up to the front gates of the Agreste mansion.

As he had expected, his father was waiting for him. He had grown accustom to the cold demeanor of his father, and had anticipated as much when he came home well after the time he should have, without so much a phone call. He was a bit taken aback when the man seemed to be genuinely concerned.

Gabriel told him that he heard that the akuma attack had been close to the school. Close enough to damage part of the structure. He made sure to give Adrien at least some what of a lecture about calling when he knew he was going to be out late, but not before making sure that his son was safe and unharmed.

He hadn't even needed to use the excuse Nino had provided for him, as Gabriel didn't ask for one. He merely stated that they'd discuss this more later, but for now, he should get some rest. That would've thrown him off on any other night, but on this night, he was grateful for being let off easy.

He had much more important things to think about.

With what little remaining sanity he had left, he calmly ascended the stairs, entered his bedroom, gently shut the door behind him, and then broke.

First, his body wanted to crash. He collapsed on the corner of his bed, but then his body decided that it was a good time for a burst of anxious adrenaline, so he rolled off of it, onto the floor and began a strange sort of wiggle that involved him curling and uncurling himself, all the while he let loose a chain of swears and sayings that didn't make sense. He didn't know whether to shout or hiss, so he groaned instead. Eventually, he was gripping at his face and hair while rolling around and rocking back and forth, making a noise that could only be compared to that of an angry goat.

Plagg watched this sorry display with amusement for a time, but quickly became embarrassed on Adrien's behalf.

"Kid!" He called more than once, but he was ignored. Best to wait it out, he decided.

"Marinette Ladybug... same!" Adrien managed to squeak out, face hidden in his hands.

"Let's use our big kid words, huh?"

"Gonna wife that girl."

"That's... better?"

Was he more exhilarated or mortified? He couldn't decided. He'd been trying to figure out her identity for years now, and he finally got it. She wanted him to know! She told him she had feelings for him! He let out a squeal that he was sure could rival that of any fangirl. As if to complete the picture, his hands balled into fists just below his chin, and he even gave a little kick of his feet.

Immediately after releasing the noise, the fog of bliss lifted and his shame caught up to him. He rolled onto his knees and curled in on himself as tightly as he could.

He had gone to Marinette to vent about his despair over Ladybug. He had literally gone to Ladybug to bitch and moan... about Ladybug!

He ran through some of the things he had said to her in his mind, and quickly realized he'd rather set himself on fire than face the reality of what he'd done. Looking back, now knowing who she was, he must've looked like such a fool. A goddamned lovestruck idiot.

He had gotten mad at her when she told him he didn't know what was going on in her head!

She was referring to herself the whole time!

He had looked her in the goddamn eyes and said, _Ladybug doesn't love me_.

 _He looked Ladybug herself in the goddamn eyes and_ -

"Oh my God, Plagg, please tell me I didn't actually do that!" He cried out, finally uncurling himself to look for the kwami.

Said kwami, whom he found lounging on the desk, merely rolled his eyes at his chosen. "Kid, you know I can't actually read your mind, what ever are you referring to, specifically?" There was an air of amusement in his voice.

"Any of it! Please tell me I didn't actually look Ladybug in the eyes and whine about how Ladybug ran off after I told her my feelings, _please_ tell me that didn't happen."

"That didn't happen."

"Don't lie to me!" He shouted as he resumed his nervous rocking. He felt sick, physically nauseated.

"Well, technically," Plagg said, his tone suggesting he was not in the comforting mood. "You looked Marinette in the eyes and whined about how Ladybug ran off-"

"Marinette is Ladybug!"

It felt weird to actually say it. The jumble of words he'd released earlier didn't really count as actually saying it, but just now, he really said it. The phrase felt foreign on his tongue, like learning a new language. He said it again.

"Marinette is Ladybug..."

Once more, but reverse it.

"Ladybug... is Marinette."

It still didn't sound real. Even though he knew it was. He'd taken extra care to observe Ladybug's hands, and he knew he'd seen them before. After seeing Marinette's hands for the second time that day, it all fell into place. They were the same pair of hands.

And even without the hand thing, he saw her. He looked into her eyes and saw her.

He always looked at Marinette and expected to see Marinette. He'd always looked at Ladybug and saw Ladybug. But once he looked at Marinette while looking for Ladybug... she was right there. And then once he saw her, everything else fell into place. All Marinette's strange Ladybug knowledge, the fact that she'd never been akumatized, the fact that Marinette was never really starstruck over Chat Noir like most other girls, the incident with the Evillustrator, Marinette's constant disappearing... Everything just made sense and he felt as though this wasn't new information. This was one of those things that he felt like he'd been told once before, but had forgotten even thought that wasn't the case. He felt like he'd known the whole time. Now that he knew, he couldn't deny how obvious it was.

In hindsight, he realized how blind he must have been to not see it before. Now that he thought about it, they looked exactly the same...

Well, duh, genius. They are the same person.

Before today, he had never considered the possibility that Marinette was Ladybug. Marinette was his good friend from school, his sweet classmate, the cute one in his small circle of friends. She was shy and clumsy in an endearing way. She was cute and modest and soft spoken, but she also was an amazing leader and wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in. She was passionate and detail-oriented, resourceful and creative...

Ladybug was his _Lady_. His partner, his other half, and though he probably didn't say it much, he considered her his best friend. Nino was Adrien's best friend, but Ladybug was Chat Noir's best friend, and he always thought that he was more of himself as Chat Noir. Ladybug was proud and strong, caring and compassionate, stubborn and reckless at times, but not too proud to admit when she was wrong. She made mistakes and she learned from them, never making the same mistake twice. She was sexy and she was a badass.

And he was hopelessly in love with her.

Which in turn, meant that Marinette was actually the object of his undying affection.

Marinette... cute, sweet, clumsy Marinette, was secretly a sexy badass.

"So what do you think?" Plagg's voice interrupted him from his thoughts.

Adrien looked up at him again, he'd forgotten that he was still on the floor. He dragged himself up to sit on his bed as he pondered the question.

"I think... that Ladybug and Marinette..." He sighed and laid back on the mattress. "I know they are the same person, but they still seem so different."

"Well," the kwami offered. "Adrien and Chat Noir are pretty different, too."

"Hmm..." He nodded in response.

"Are you upset?"

"Not at all! Just... surprised, I guess." He kicked off his shoes as he spoke. "I mean, what are the odds that the girl I've been trying to find was actually right in front of me the whole time? Or, behind me, rather."

"Do you still think she's amazing and perfect and... what was it you said, that she's your _everything_?"

Did he? Did his affections go to Marinette just like that? It had been her the whole time, she was Ladybug. He had said, whoever she was behind the mask, he loved that girl. And that girl was Marinette. Did her being Marinette make him doubt his true affections, ever a little bit? He felt like perhaps, the smart thing to do would be for him to take a moment to assess the situation before deciding. But the reality was, he didn't care what the smart thing was, he didn't feel any differently. Ladybug and Marinette were the same person, _she_ was one person. And she _was_ his everything.

He sat up and fixed his eyes on the kwami, and spoke firmly. "Yes."

"Does she know that?"

Adrien cocked an eyebrow at him. "What?"

Plagg sighed and floated over to the blonde, hovering in front of his face. "Look, this whole pep talk about feelings thing isn't really my strong point, but I'm still your kwami, and I'm supposed to look out for you. I honestly didn't expect Ladybug to ever reveal her identity to you, much less tell you she had feelings for you. But here's the deal. I've been around for a long time, I've seen it go sour in the past, and I don't want that for you. The reveal of identities is a delicate thing, and you really should feel honored that Marinette trusted you with this."

Adrien was taken back by his usually aloof kwami's sudden serious tone, but he dare not voice it. He wanted to soak up whatever help the black cat had to offer, so he listened faithfully.

"Do you remember what she said right before?" Plagg asked.

"Uhh..."

"She said that she was scared you wouldn't like the girl under the mask."

Adrien's eyes widened. After everything else, he'd completely forgotten that one detail. She had indeed said that. Plagg took Adrien's expression as cue to continue.

"She knows you think the world of _Ladybug_ , and she was obviously concerned that, that same adoration might not transfer to _Marinette_."

"B-but... but I told her..."

" _Tell her again_." He said firmly. "Tell her again, now that you actually know who she is under that mask. I care about you, Kid, I want to see you happy. I don't want you to fuck this up, I've seen it happen too many times before."

Adrien felt he was seeing a side of Plagg he'd never seen before. The sprite was never this sincere on anything other than cheese. It was easy to forget the Plagg was actually thousands of years old and had probably seen everything at least once. His voice had never been so serious as it was now, and for the first time, Adrien realized that, while it was easy to brush it under the rug because it had become just a normal part of their lives, being Ladybug and Chat Noir was actually a really big fucking deal.

"She trusted you with her identity. Take care of it. That's such a precious thing. Don't be a smart ass, don't tease her, and don't take this lightly. This is supposed to bring you closer. Do your best to not treat her any different than you did before. That will show her that you're opinion of her hasn't changed."

"Plagg..." He subconsciously brought his hands up to scoop the kwami out of the air and hold him. "Did... did you know it was Marinette?"

"Had no idea." He didn't allow Adrien to hold him for long, as he once again floated up to hover in front of him. "I'm serious though, Adrien. If you don't want to lose her. _Tell her again_." With that, he zipped away to settle himself in his usual spot on the desk.

Plagg was right, Adrien thought. He had to tell her again. Now that she wasn't in front of him, he could think a bit more clearly and he realized that there were many more things that needed to be said. He'd been so embarrassed, he'd left in a rush. But Plagg was right, and if he was as serious about her as he claimed, _which he was_ , he had to do this right.

His first instinct was to pick up his cell phone. It was getting late, but it wasn't that late. Surely, she'd still be awake, if not just getting ready for bed.

Wait. She had his cell phone number. Chat Noir couldn't call from Adrien's phone. That couldn't be the way he revealed his identity, that was stupid. Ah, but she didn't have his home phone number.

After checking to make sure no one was using it and situating himself in his desk chair, he held the device in his hands as he mentally prepared himself. He gave himself a mental list of everything he wanted to say.

And for some reason, it was at that moment that he remembered all the teasing and sexual tension that had occurred earlier that day. Except, in the memory, it was Marinette that whispered "Down, boy." as she leaned against him. It was Marinette's thigh that he reached back and grabbed. It was Marinette that literally used her body to shielded him from an explosion. It was Marinette that looked him over and told him how amazing and vulnerable he looked. And it was Marinette that made him moan just by kissing his cheek.

His face felt hot and he allowed himself a moment to act like a fool, burying his head in his hands and releasing another squeak. He forced his breathing to calm down, and then told himself to buck up before he lost his nerve. Looking up her number from his cell, he dialed the number and hit 'call' quickly, not giving himself time to chicken out.

"Remember," he heard Plagg say to him. "You are Chat Noir!"

"I am Chat Noir!" He repeated. It rang.

It rang again.

"I am Chat Noir..." He whispered to himself. Never before had a dial tone made him panic.

It rang a third time.

She wasn't going to answer.

As the fourth ring sounded, he was sure she wouldn't answer and he wondered if he should hang up or leave a message, but it cut short.

It was a moment before he actually heard anything. The voice that finally came through was soft, quiet, a bit raspy, and very much the sleepy voice of his Lady.

"Hello?"

Ladybug was on the other end of this call. He was on the phone with Ladybug. When had he lost his voice? Find it, quick!

"H-hi."

A pause. She answered. "Hi." She sounded confused.

"U-um, it's me." He said quietly. "It's Chat Noir."

Another pause. When she responded this time, her voice was no longer confused, but rather warm. "Hey."

"I...um..." Of course, now that he had her, his mind had gone blank. "I-I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

He heard her let out a quiet hum. "No, I wasn't asleep yet." From the sound of it, she was probably just about to fall asleep when he called.

"Oh, good. Um..." Do it, just do it. "Listen... I'm sorry for calling so late, Milady, but... this couldn't wait."

There was a long pause. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" He assured her. "I just needed you to know..."

He drew in a deep breath, and then continued. "I-I just wanted to say... that this doesn't change anything. I said that, with or without the mask, I think you're amazing and I still feel that way." He let out a breathy chuckle. "Actually, I can say it with confidence now. With or without the mask, you are amazing..."

He trailed off. It felt so good to say. It felt so good to say it and mean it, and to finally know who he was talking about. Being on the phone with her, hearing her voice as she was just on the brink of sleep, soft, quiet, and demure... he felt like he was talking to his lover that he'd been apart from for a long time. He heard her breathing change as he spoke, but she had yet to answer, so he continued.

"Ladybug is amazing in her own way, and Marinette is amazing in her own _different_ way, and the fact that those two beautiful, amazing women are the same person... God, you're incredible."

She made a soft noise, followed by a sleepy giggle, but he kept on.

"Earlier, you said... you said you were scared that I wouldn't like who was under the mask. A-and, I was thinking about that after I left, and after... you know, I got over being mortified over all the shit I said. But anyway! I just really wanted you to know that, not only do I feel so much closer to you now..."

His breath caught in his throat. He paused, and continued.

"But I'm also, like... ten times more attracted to you..." He trailed off again. He couldn't help the shyness that crept into his voice, but given what he was saying, he hoped that it would help convey his sincerity. "I think... I think I've always been attracted to you as Marinette, but I didn't really want to acknowledge it because Ladybug was the one who had my heart, Ladybug was, _is_ my whole world, _you_ are my everything! A-and... I just wanted you to know that I am so happy that it's you under the mask-"

"Stop..." She said at last. Her voice was still quiet and she sounded breathless. "Chaton, you're going to make me cry..." He heard a sound that he couldn't place as laughter or a sob, but the soft giggle that followed set him at ease.

He had started rambling, he realized, but it was okay. He meant it and he was honestly proud of himself for putting it out there with only minor stuttering. He released a soft chuckle of his own, letting his voice drop into a lower register. "Don't cry, Bugaboo."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

There was a beat of silence before she whispered, "For running away from you after you..."

"O-oh, no, it's okay, I understand why you did." He chuckled as he subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry for overwhelming you."

"It's okay, but I reacted poorly."

"Well, I'm sorry... for literally everything else that happened after that." He laughed nervously. "Thinking back to all the whining I did... I am so embarrassed."

She hummed, which turned into a soft laugh. "It's okay."

They both fell silence. It was a comfortable silence that neither felt the need to break. There was something so exciting and comforting about having her on the phone and being able to lay everything out there. No awkwardness, no judgement, all their cards were on the table. Before visiting her, he had dreaded the idea of bringing up such topics with Ladybug. Not because he didn't want to, he desperately did. But not knowing how she'd react, the possibility of it becoming awkward between them... He couldn't handle all the things that lingered, left unsaid, all the unspoken energy that they both felt but couldn't acknowledge. And even now, they had only been on the phone for a few minutes, but he felt a huge weight off his shoulders. He felt like he could lower his defenses and just be honest about his feelings. Which reminded him of one thing.

"Do you want to know who I am?"

She didn't respond right away, as he kind of expected. He knew it was a loaded question. He'd asked her earlier, and she hadn't answered him. Of course, at the time, emotions were high and there were alot of questions being thrown around. But this, here and now, he could ask again.

He heard her draw in a deep, contemplative breath, and then release it. "Honestly...Um." She paused and then went on. "I've been... thinking about this for a while now. 'This' being revealing my own identity and, uh. I think I've been so wrapped up thinking about my own, I haven't even considered your's." She then scoffed and added. "Wow, that sounded selfish..."

He laughed. "No, no, it's okay!"

Even though it wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear, he was so overjoyed that she was being honest and open with him. And now that he thought about it, he threw around the idea of revealing his own identity to her alot. But now knowing who she was, the idea was alot more intimidating than he imagined it.

Mainly because he hadn't previous considered that they might actually be close friends from school.

He'd thought that perhaps they might know each other, but Adrien knew alot of people. Marinette was one of his best friends, she knew him pretty damn well. If she found out that the guy who flirted with her constant and acted like he didn't know the meaning of the words 'shame' or 'insecurity', was the same sad, lonely, innocent rich kid who was the picture perfect definition of a sheltered child...

She probably wouldn't tease him, because she was a totally sweetheart. But it would be really hard to save face as Chat Noir once she knew it was all an act.

However, all that in mind, if she said she did want to know his identity, he would tell her without hesitation.

"...I don't think I'm ready yet."

Welp.

He sighed and then hummed warmly. "That's okay."

He didn't expect to be so relived by her answer.

There was another beat of silence before she added, "Do you want to tell me?"

He stuttered and then quickly said, "Only if you want to know."

He should've expected as much, but she made a small sound of disbelief. "You don't sound very convinced..."

Now it was his turn to be silent. She'd revealed her identity to him, and as Plagg had said, that wasn't something to take lightly. She had trusted him with her whole self. He'd wanted to know who she was under that mask literally since their first mission. And he realized, she probably wouldn't have revealed herself to him if he hadn't gone to her and thrown such a fit like he did. He couldn't change that now, but whether he meant to or not, he had probably unintentionally pressured her into it. The thought made his stomach drop.

Perhaps he was being selfish. After everything that had happened that day, after he had been so desperate to know who she was under that mask, when it come down to it, he couldn't bring himself to drop his own mask. Because all his confidence was in that mask.

At least it kind of worked out that way. She wasn't ready to know, and he wasn't ready to tell her.

He realized he hadn't answered her yet. She had been so open and honest with him, he could at least do the same.

"Well..." he began. He stood from his desk chair and laid down in his bed. He rolled onto his side, holding the phone between his face and his pillow. He sighed. "Since we're being honest here... which I love, by the way, um. The fact is, Chat Noir... isn't really me."

He heard the most adorable soft giggle come through the phone, and responded with a laugh of his own. "No, what I mean is... I... oh man, how do I say this? Um... Look, in normal life, I'm like... not that guy. I'm not that confident. Being Chat Noir is my outlet, my escape from normal life. Being Chat Noir makes me confident. Because nobody knows it's really me, I can get away with acting... well, you know how I act, you're the one who has to deal with me." He laughed softly.

"I can understand that." She said. "So you're not ready either, is what you're getting at."

He released a breath and smiled, nuzzling his face into his pillow. "Right. I-I thought I was, but... I don't know, it's one thing to think about it, and it's a whole other thing to actually-"

"Oh, believe me, I know."

Of course she did, she was the one who had actually gone through with it. _Duh stupid_ , he mentally scolded himself.

"It's okay, Kitty. Maybe when you're ready to tell me, I'll be ready to hear it. And I _won't_ ask how you got my phone number."

"O-oh, heh," He said. "Yeah... hey, Ladyb-... er, Marinette?"

"Hmm?"

"I..." he hesitated, shyness creeping in on him. "I have... one more question."

"What's that?"

He loved this, being on the phone with her while laying in bed. He'd often imagined lying beside her, and when he closed his eyes and listened to her sleepy voice, he could so perfectly pretend that she was actually there with him. He hugged a pillow to his chest to assist the pretend scene. It was so amazing, that he was hesitate to ask his question, for fear of what the answer would be.

But it was now or never, and he had to know.

"Earlier. Did you mean it, when you said... when you said you had f-feelings for me? Or were you just telling me what you thought I wanted to hear? ...B-because I didn't know it was you?"

There was another pause. A long pause. Regret started to claw at him. He shouldn't have asked, he should've just let it be. Even if she had meant it, she obviously had let it slip because of the situation. If left to her own devices, she probably wouldn't have told him like that. She probably felt pressured into it, and she was probably feeling pressured again right now. He heard her release a deep breath, and he stammered.

"I-it's okay, you don't have to answer that."

She made a sound, like a grunt, which told him to give her a moment. He heard her breathing become a bit uneven and she seemed to be searching for words. She made another sound that sounded like she was going to say something, but only silence followed it. She sighed again, sounding frustrated.

"Really, Milady, it's okay-"

"I _did_ mean it..."

He swore he felt his heart stop. In an instant, he felt like a warm liquid was filling up his body, starting in his chest and spreading out, flowing through his veins and spilling over to wash over his skin. To say he had butterflies in his stomach would've been a gross understatement, as he had to physically cover his mouth with his hand to keep quiet. He swore his face might actually split in two from the force of his smile.

She continued, oblivious to his reaction. "But... honestly, I..." she sounded like she was struggling with her words. "Since we _are_ being honest... I-I don't know if was ready for you to know that yet..."

His smile still split his face and the warm feeling inside him remained. He felt only slightly disheartened by her words, but he understood, and he couldn't help but let his Chat Noir bravado shine through. "It's okay, Milady. For you, I will pretend to remain oblivious. As long as you want me to."

If he had been in front of her in that moment, it would've been very difficult to not try and kiss her. Despite the fact that he just promised to pretend he didn't know she had feelings for him.

She had feelings for him.

He once again had to cover his mouth to keep quiet. She had feelings for him.

That was dangerous knowledge to have and he knew it, but he'd reflect more on that later when he was alone and she wasn't on the phone with him.

He heard her hum in contentment.

Another comfortable silence fell between them. He had more questions for her, and if he wasn't nervous about pushing his limits, he'd be happy to stay up late into the night talking with her. But he knew she was tired and he didn't want to risk getting on her nerves because he was keeping her from sleep.

"W-well, Milady, I don't want to keep you from your beauty sleep... not that you need it! Because you're gorgeous. B-but... Um, you're probably tired, and-"

"Chat..."

"Ah... yes?"

"Goodnight."

The warm, affection, sleepy sound of her voice made him melt and the last thing he wanted to do was hang up the phone. He unintentionally let a defiant groan escape from his throat. He immediately cringed at himself and felt the heat rise in his cheeks when he heard her chuckle softly in response.

"Oh, really?" She said, voice playful but still soft. "Is there something else you wanted to say?"

"Oh, there are lots of things I want to say..."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah..."

She seemed to be opening the door for him to continue their conversation in whatever direction he wanted, and he wondered where she would allow it to go. The first thing that popped into his mind was something he couldn't work up the nerve to say. It involved him voicing his desire to be laying next to her.

"I just... I like your voice."

She hummed. "Is that new or...?"

"Well, no, but I've never heard it like this before."

"Like what?"

His smile grew wider and he pulled the pillow tighter against him. "You sound so sleepy, I don't think I've ever heard you speak this gently before." His very being was buzzing and warm and he realized that he had probably never been happier than he was in that moment.

He heard her release a shy chuckle in response. "Well... I guess this is just my... night time voice."

"I like it."

His voice had gotten lower in pitch and he only realized after the fact how he sounded. Her breath hitched and he knew he should quit while he was ahead, because if he heard her make another sound like that, it would be a losing battle to try and keep this an innocent conversation.

"I like your voice too... You're cute."

Oh no, it was happening. He couldn't stop himself from responding with, "Thank you. Though, I feel like there are better adjectives to describe me."

"Oh? Such as?"

"Handsome? Charming?" His voice dropped again. "Sexy..."

She hummed again and said slowly, "You're cute."

Her words said, _you're cute_. But her tone said, _bitch you thought_.

He knew he should've quit while he was ahead.

He laughed because, what else could he do? She laughed with him before sighing comfortably. "You're not wrong though..."

He had to actually pause and think about what she had said. He then had to strain to keep his voice low and not squeak. "So you think I'm sexy?"

"Eh..." She responded nonchalantly. "You're alright I guess." He was trying to think of something to say back when she continued. "I have to say though, one of my favorites is probably that helpless look you had on earlier today, after the akuma victim threw that dynamite at us."

The memory rushed back to him and he knew he was in trouble.

"You really did look _amazing_ like that..."

Now it was his turn to hitch his breath.

"Who knew it was so easy to make you moan..."

" _Milady_." He said at last. "I am doing my very best to be good and you are not making that easy for me."

The sound she made could not really be called a chuckle or a giggle, nor would he call it a gasp. It was a breathy sound that seemed like it was trying to be a laugh of sorts, but her own breathlessness betrayed her. "Is that so..." Her voice, however, was even and calm. "And what if you weren't being good?"

He knew she probably didn't think he had to nerve to actually answer that truthfully.

Hm. _She thought_.

"Well, I was just thinking about how much I'd love to be laying next to you right now." He said smoothly. "And how much I would love to hear that sweet little night time voice of your's in person." He heard her breath falter again and continued. "Which I wasn't going to say... But My Lady did ask."

He couldn't help the feeling of pride swell in his chest at the sound of her trembling breath, but again, he knew he should probably quit while he was ahead. He didn't know where his sudden burst of Chat Noir confidence had come from, but he knew from experience that it could be gone as quickly as it came if he wasn't careful. When she failed to respond, he chuckled and added, "Two can play that game, Bugaboo. And by the way, you're cute too."

"Thank you."

"You give the best cheek kisses."

"Aww..."

"And you looked amazing on top of me-"

"Okay!" She said, nervous energy creeping into the word. "I think it's a certain kitty's bedtime."

He laughed, basking in his victory since she had broken first. He realized then that he probably wasn't the only one who drew confidence from his mask. He thought back to how head strong and unshakable Ladybug was, and then to how clumsy and easily flustered Marinette could be, and he was once again overwhelmed by how amazing it was that the two were the same person. He then pondered on whether or not he was happy their conversation took the turn that it did. He loved a bit of teasing, but he enjoyed their sweet, genuine exchange much more. He made an attempt to save face.

"Didn't mean to fluster you, Milady. And I'm sorry if I'm keeping you up." He sighed. "If I may be serious, I know I joke and flirt and tease, but please tell me honestly. Have I ever... crossed a line before? Have I ever made you feel uncomfortable?"

"No." She responded at once. "You've annoyed me before, but that's it." He could perfectly picture the warm smile on her face and she spoke. "You've never made me feel uncomfortable." She breathed out a laugh and added, "If anything, I feel safest when I'm with you."

He couldn't quite put a name to the emotion he felt at hearing that, but it made him feel complete. He felt needed and protective. He sat up briefly to shrug off his button up and then wiggle out of his jeans. Now in only his t-shirt and boxers, he crawled under his comforter and wished more in that moment that he could be next to her. He wanted to hold her so badly. She said she felt safest with him. He was a super hero, it made sense for him to make people feel safe. But for her to be the one to say it? He didn't know something like that could make him feel so completely loved.

That's it, that's what it was. He felt loved. He felt loved and needed and happy.

"Marinette..."

"Yes?"

"...You know saying something like that is just going to go straight to my head."

"Ha. Let it."

Oh, he was going to wife this girl so hard.

"Why do you ask, though?"

Truthfully, he didn't know why he had asked that particular question. He'd always wondered, but at that moment, he was just trying to steer their conversation away from dangerous waters. "W-well," He began. "Uh... I don't know if you want to get into it now or talk about it later, I know you were trying to go to sleep and I meant for this to be a short conversation, but-"

"Chaton, it's fine, I don't have to get up in the morning."

Excitement boiled in his chest. "You don't? Then why in bed so early?"

"I was emotionally exhausted over everything that's happened today."

"O-oh." He said, deflated. "I can let you go if-"

"No, really, it's okay." She assured him. "You sound like something's bothering you."

He huffed. "It's not bothering me, per say, but... Well, it is actually, but... um..." Should he even bring it up? She did ask, but... maybe he should just let it be.

"I mean, if you don't want to talk about it..."

"I! Ah, I don't want there to be anymore walls between us!" He blurted out. "I've waited so long for us to finally be at the point where we can share things and talk openly like this and... I-I don't want to spoil this. If I ever did put you in an uncomfortable position, I want you to be able to tell me!"

"You haven't, I told you." She said softly, comfortingly. "Why do you-?"

"Earlier." He started. "I feel like I pressured you into revealing your identity."

She fell silent and he was certain that he was right. That day had been crazy, at times uncomfortable, and definitely confusing. He had pressured her unknowingly, he knew that. But the guilt was there, all the same. He couldn't go back and change it, and if he could, he didn't know that he'd want to. He just didn't want her to think of him as one to pressure her into anything. That was a horrible way to start a relationship.

And this _was_ the start of a relationship, he decided. Maybe not the actual start, but the beginning of events that would lead to the start, he was certain.

She still hadn't responded, so he drew in an audible breath and exhaled. "I was thinking about it earlier, after I left your place. And uh, it dawned on me that... you probably wouldn't have revealed your identity to me if I hadn't put you in that position."

She was quiet for another beat, and then made a small hum in response. "Well. I'll be honest, I probably wouldn't have, if not for..." She trailed off, letting it hang in the air what they both knew she was referring to. She continued. "But... can't do anything about that now. And besides, it's not like you knew you were putting me in that position."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, really. If anything, I'm happy about it, because this saves me the trouble of thinking up a good way to do the reveal myself." She released an airy laugh that made him smile.

He curled himself around his pillow again. "If you don't mind my asking, how were you planning on doing it?"

"I had no clue. I wanted it to be as nondramatic as possible, but I guess that obviously didn't work out." She giggled and he forced himself to join in, despite the fact that embarrassment was rising in his face again. "I had figured, I'd give myself until the Christmas dance to think of something, and if I couldn't, then I'd just do it there."

The Christmas dance. Marinette was his date to the dance. He'd reflect more on that when she wasn't on the phone.

"Speaking of which, I'm actually pretty excited about that. Are you?"

He heard her smile through her words. "Yeah, I am. I'm, uh... I'm making my own dress."

"I can't wait to see it." He remembered seeing the sketches of the dress in her book and wondering whether they were meant for Ladybug or Marinette. Then he remembered the after party they had planned just earlier that day. The whole thing had been Marinette's idea, obviously she'd be there, but she still didn't know who he was. And therefore, didn't know it was actually his home that would be playing host.

"Marinette?"

"Hmm?"

"Um. Do you think...you'll be ready to know who I am by then?"

"By then?"

"The Christmas dance."

Another beat of silence pasted as she contemplated, and for a moment, he was worried that she would say no.

"Maybe." She whispered. "I guess we'll have to see."

A strange cocktail of excitement, anticipation and nervousness bubbled up in his stomach. The Christmas dance was still a good two months away, plenty of time for him to gather his wits and buck up the nerve to reveal his identity. Why was he so nervous anyway? Other than the obvious reasons of saving face as Chat Noir, what other reason did he have? She'd already told him she had feelings for him-

She told Chat Noir she had feelings for him.

The sudden sinking of his heart made him remember that she was still on the line.

"Y-yeah." He said. "We'll see." He realized how down he sounded, despite his effort to hide it. He thought, perhaps it was time to say goodnight. "Well, Milady, I don't want to keep you up anymore that I already have. And, um, thank you... for talking to me."

She giggled. "You're welcome."

He felt like this was the part where the two lovers say 'I love you'. He so desperately wanted to say it. He'd already said it once, indirectly. She knew he did. Would it really be so bad to say it?

"Marinette...?"

"Yes?"

"I..."

He froze. She encouraged him.

"Yes?"

"I-I..."

He couldn't do it.

He sighed, dejected. "I... hope you sleep well."

It was faint, but he swore he thought he could hear disappointment in her voice when she responded with, "Oh... thank you. I hope you do too."

"When can I see you again?" He'd see her in class on Monday, but she didn't know that.

She chuckled. "You've never needed an invitation to show up at my place unannounced before."

A smug look made it's way onto his face, despite the fact that she couldn't see it, and he burrowed deeper under his blanket. "Well, you know what they say about feeding a stray cat..."

"...And enter without knocking sometimes."

"Hey, now." He interrupted. "I've only done that, like... twice."

It had been more than twice, and he damn well knew it. A few times, he'd seen through her window that she had headphones on, so he'd let himself in. Or, it was about to start raining and he dart down through the latch before the first drops started to fall. And the most common reason, he saw that she wasn't in her room and he'd make himself at home while he waited for her. He could still perfectly remember the shocked and then sour expression on her face when she'd finally enter the room, only to find a lounging Chat Noir either in her chair or on her lounger.

He'd always thought her pouty, angry face was incredibly cute, but his heart remained faithful to Ladybug. He could add that to the list of reasons to be happy with the knowledge that they were the same person.

She didn't bother to correct him, and simply made a noncommittal hum. "Patrol Sunday?"

He smiled. "Usual spot, usual time?"

"Mhm."

"It's a date."

"You wish."

He was about to make a comment when he heard a beep that sounded like it came from her end of the phone call, followed by something that sounded like rustling of fabric. "What was that?" He asked. His own phone buzzed as well, but he ignored it.

"Oh, my friend texted me." She replied. "Why the hell is she texting me so late?" The last part was quieter, talking more to herself than to him. She then sighed. "Okay, Kitty, it's bedtime for real this time."

He chuckled and put on his suavest, most over exaggerated Chat Noir voice. "Goodnight, my beautiful Love-bug, I hope you have the sweetest of dreams and I anxiously await our Sunday patrol!"

"Goodnight, Chaton. Sleep well."

She hung up.

He stayed like that, phone to his ear and body wrapped around his pillow, for a moment more before he turned off the phone and lay it down next to him. He'd been pretending she was there with him, he'd felt like she was. With her voice now gone, he felt as though he'd been left alone in the darkness. It was suddenly colder. His heart sank ever so slightly.

To distract himself from the feeling, he got up, replaced the home phone on it's receiver, and grabbed his cell phone. He'd completely forgot about the text he received while on the phone with Marinette, because nothing was that important that it had to interrupt them. He unlocked the device and blinked from the sudden bright light in his eyes. When the screen came into focus, the cold feeling was gone, replaced with excitement.

It was a group message from Alya, that included himself, Nino, and Marinette. It read:

 **-Peeps, movie tomorrow?**

As he looked at the screen, another message popped up from Marinette.

 **-That one scary movie just came out, right? That the one you want to see?**

Alya responded.

 **-Girl, you know it.**

Nino chimed in.

 **-Hell yeah, let's do it!**

A moment passed and Marinette didn't say anything. He watched the screen anxiously. If she went, then so would he. Otherwise, he'd just be third wheeling it with Nino and Alya. Maybe he could invite her to do something, just the two of them.

Marinette responded at last.

 **-Sounds like fun, I'm game.**

He typed up his first and only message.

 **-I'm in.**

After agreeing they would sort out details tomorrow as far as time and where they'd all meet, no more messages were sent that night. As he crawled back into bed, Adrien was buzzing with the knowledge that he wouldn't have to wait to see his Lady again, but a thought struck him. Struck him rather violently, he should say.

She still didn't know he was Chat Noir, and once he started to think about it, he wondered: Did he want her to fall for him as Adrien or Chat Noir? If he started to pursue her as Adrien, she'd be under the impression that she had two different guys after her affections. Which means that in her mind, she'd have to choose one.

That is, assuming she chose either side of himself at all, which there was no guarantee of. For the sake of argument, though.

Did he want to win her heart as Chat or Adrien? He'd always felt more like himself as Chat Noir, but Adrien was who he actually was. She knew Adrien from school. She knew Chat Noir as her partner, and now as the only person who knew her identity.

She'd told Chat Noir that she had feelings for him. She was going to be his date to the Christmas Ball. But Marinette has always, until recently anyway, resisted getting closer to Adrien. She was always very kind to him, but he felt that was more of her just being a good person, rather than actually wanting to get to know him. What if she didn't like him?

"That went pretty well, I think."

Adrien nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice of his kwami, who he thought had fallen asleep.

"How do you feel about it?"

Adrien tried to locate Plagg in the darkness, but he couldn't, so he stared at the ceiling instead. "I think it went really well." He said. "Plagg, can I ask you something?"

"You're going to anyway, no matter what I say."

"You're right. Do you think I should pursue her as Adrien or Chat Noir?"

"Chat Noir. Marinette doesn't look twice at Adrien. She can barely stand to talk to you for more than five minutes at a time." was Plagg's uninterested response. "Probably because she can't stand to actually see your dumb face."

"My face is not dumb."

"Whatever. Go to sleep."

...

 **More Chapters Coming Soon!**


	5. Chapter 5

**_In which Adrien is a little bit nosey and Marinette has some conflicting emotions._**

The agreed upon meet up time was just as the sun was setting. The theater they were going to was located in a shopping plaza. They were all going to meet at the benches just outside the theater, get their tickets and snacks, and probably go out to eat after. That was the plan.

Adrien had his own plan.

After spending an embarrassing amount of time pondering the whole Adrien vs. Chat Noir issue, he decided that it was probably better if he didn't have a plan. Literally every plan he'd had, had back fired on him so far. He would just act natural, pretend everything was normal, and just see what happened. Furthermore, if he saw an opportunity to flirt with Marinette, he would, and he'd see how she responded.

He decided not to tell Nino or Alya that he'd 'suddenly developed' feelings for Marinette. He might later, but if he told them now, they'd both, especially Alya, be far too transparent about trying to 'help'. They'd both tried to set him up with Marinette in the past, but he'd always resisted, claiming that they were friends and he didn't want it to be weird. He'd left out the part about his heart belonging to someone else, but that fact was irrelevant now. Nino and Alya had always had something between them, and probably just wanted them to also be a thing so as to not off-set their friendship group, Adrien had assumed.

Adrien's timing was perfect. Just as he was turning the corner towards the bakery, Marinette emerged from the front door, calling out a farewell to her parents from over her shoulder. She wore jeans and a low-cut sweater. The same red peacoat she wore the previous day was pulled over her shoulders. He watched as she brought a hand to her shoulder and rolled her neck, looking like she was bothered by it, before she set off down the sidewalk. The loose braid her hair was pulled back into whipped about in the breeze.

He had to pause. The sight of her threw him off. He realized that a part of this still felt like a dream, that it might not be true. She was his beloved Ladybug, and he knew that. But he had to remind himself that in that moment, he was Adrien and she was Marinette. And as far as she knew, Adrien knew nothing about what had transpired the night before. He was excited, but he hadn't expected to be so nervous.

Marinette didn't see him. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts.

She knew Adrien would be at the movies tonight, and she was nervous. She was nervous because she still didn't know how she felt. After everything that had happened with Chat Noir, she wondered how seeing Adrien would make her feel. A part of her hoped that she would see him and feel nothing, and then she'd be sure that Chat was the one she wanted, but she knew it probably wouldn't be that simple. Tikki had advised her, and she agreed, that maybe it was better to not think about it, and just go with it. Maybe she'd see Adrien and be just as smitten as she had been, or maybe she'd spend the night wishing she was with Chat instead. Either way, there was no deadline. She wasn't actually dating either of them, so it's not like she was two-timing. Tikki told her, it's okay to not be sure, and she was allowed to just go with the flow and see what happened.

However, she still had the desire for Adrien to find her attractive, and as such, had worn one of her favorite form fitting, low cut sweaters. It was sexy but didn't make her look like she was trying too hard. She was glad that they were all meeting at the theater, as she still had to mentally prepare herself to see him. Just thinking about it made excitement bubble up in her stomach.

She didn't see Adrien at first, and so true to Marinette, was thoroughly startled when he called out to her.

"Marinette!" He waved with a smile, as he done countless times before. She whipped around at the sound of his voice, taken back by his sudden and unplanned appearance. At first, she wasn't sure if she'd actually heard right or if her nerves were getting to her. But there he was, looking gorgeous in a black sweater pulled over a white button-up, all beneath a black jacket. He approached her with a strange, worried look in his eyes, and without warning or hesitation, threw his arms around her. She drew in a sharp breath and tensed, but brought her hands to his back.

"W-well, hello there." She said with a nervous giggle. It took her a moment to get over her nerves and properly hug him back, and even then, it was stiff and awkward. Her back was still bothering her from the day before, but that had nothing to do with it. She was worried he could feel her erratic heartbeat against their joined chests.

Adrien Agreste was a model, not an actor. But he'd mentally written himself a script, and he was about to take home an Oscar.

"Sorry, I just..." He paused, drawing back from the hug. His hands remained on her shoulders. "What happened to you yesterday? Are you okay? I tried to find you after everything calmed down, but I couldn't."

A cold gust of panic washed over her as she struggled to find both her voice and an excuse.

If that were true, hypothetically, he would've just called or texted her. But luckily for him, Marinette was too put-on-the-spot to poke holes in his lie.

"O-oh, um..." She shrugged, but then winced. She tried to brush both off. "I-I just... went and hid like everyone else did! I, um... You know, Ladybug and Chat Noir were there pretty quick so... Um, I just went home after that. I thought you would have too..."

"Are you hurt?"

"What?"

He ran his hands along her shoulders gently, making small circular motions with his thumbs, and her face lit up a deep crimson. "You keep... twitching like your in pain..."

"O-Oh, I...um..." It was difficult to think, much less form words, with his face so close and his hands on her. His eyes were so bright and he just looked so concerned for her, and his hands felt like heaven, even through the thick material of her coat, leaving a burning trail in their wake...

Well, at least one thing was clear. She still had feelings for him.

One hand had inched it's way around her and kneaded lightly at the top of her spine, just below her neckline, and she couldn't stop from flinching, sucking in a breath through her teeth.

"Sorry!" He said, retracting his hands and holding them up in surrender. "You _are_ hurt, what happened?"

He was pretty sure he knew. He remembered her being tackled by the akuma victim and taking a pretty hard fall. He was still kicking himself for not getting to her sooner.

"N-nothing really... I just, um... I mean, you know how clumsy I am... I just fell, that's all. During all the commotion, you know..."

He made a little gasp. "It wasn't when I pushed you down, was it?" He replaced his hands on her shoulders. "When the attack first happened?"

She stared at him. After everything else, she'd completely forgotten that had happened. Her cheeks burned at the memory, but it was also a perfect excuse.

"Uh... yeeeeah, that was probably it." She smiled, attempting to look innocent.

"Oh God, I'm sorry," He truly did look sincere as his thumbs resumed tracing circles over her clothed shoulders. "I hadn't meant for you to fall so hard, I just... reacted, you know?"

"Oh no, don't worry about it!" She insisted with a warm smile, and placed her hands on top of his. Her intention was to stop his thumbs, because the motion was making it hard to think, but as soon as she felt how warm they were compared to her's, she didn't want to let them go. She stuttered out the end of her response. "B-b-better than being sliced up by glass from a broken window..." She finished it with an awkward giggle than made her cringe on the inside.

Adrien mistook her stutter for a shiver, as they had been standing on the sidewalk the whole time, and the cool air was starting to creep in. "Marinette, you're hands are freezing again."

It was true, her hands were freezing. She was beginning to think that it had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with nervousness. He cupped them in his own hands, which easily engulfed her's, and brought them to his lips, breathing on them to warm them up. His eyes slipped shut as he did so, and the warmth of his actions all but skipped her hands and went straight to her face, as well as some other areas. When he opened his eyes again, they were piercing and intense and made her want to moan.

Her hands still held up to his lips, she saw the corner of his mouth curl upwards in a mischievous smile. A smile like that looked very out of character for sweet, charming Adrien. But for some reason, the expression did not look out of place. She was sure she'd never seen that look on _Adrien_ before, but at the same time, she could've sworn she'd seen that very same look before.

It was smoldering and hot and almost reminded her off...

He pressed his lips against the back of her hand, eyes locked onto her's, and she thought she might faint. When he spoke, she felt the vibration of his words on her hand and they feeling went straight to her chest.

"I'm glad you're okay. I was really worried about you."

The first noise that escaped her was something between a gasp and a squeak. Surely, he was doing that on purpose. No one was that sexy naturally. Were they? Oh God.

"Th-thank you..." She said when she'd found her voice. "Um... I'm... glad you're okay, too."

He smiled, no longer a mischievous smile, but a genuine warm smile that reached up to his eyes. "Well, let's not stand around in the cold." He said, releasing her hands, but offering his arm. "Shall we?"

As soon as they were free, her hands retreated to her chest, where they clutched at her heart. She stared at his waiting arm, wondering if she was imagining all this. Literally stunned speechless, her brain was having a hard time catching up and all she could do was stare. Her gaze darted back and forth from his arm to his eyes, and she noticed that the longer they stood and she didn't take his arm, the smaller and smaller his smile became. Until finally, he retracted it completely, rubbing the back of his neck instead.

"Um... sorry." He said awkwardly. She just continued to stare with wide eyes and a blank expression, and he began to worry that this had been a bad idea. He shoved his hands in his pockets, insecurity clawing at him.

They started to walk in silence, very uncomfortable silence, and Marinette's mind finally seemed to process what was happening. Was Adrien flirting with her? Why, all of a sudden, was that happening? She'd never before gotten the impression from him that he liked her as more than a friend, but then again, she'd liked him so much for so long, maybe she just hadn't believed it. Or maybe it hadn't shown because of their friends. She and Adrien rarely spent time together alone, she realized. It was easy to talk to him like a normal person when they had people around to buffer their interactions. But here, with no one around, just the two of them, with him acting like... that... She felt hot. She was so put off by his actions, that she felt light headed. She didn't even know what to think.

She felt a small squirming from her coat. She looked down, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, and met eyes with Tikki, who's small head popped out of her sweater. The kwami looked up at Marinette, and then to Adrien, and then back to Marinette with a questioning look on her tiny face. Marinette responded with a quick shrug and a befuddled look.

Adrien looked over at her, and she quickly wrapped her arms around herself to hide Tikki, offering a quick smile. A sudden gust of wind blew past them, bringing a cold chill with it. And being as small and clumsy as she was, the gust damn near knocked her over. She didn't stumble much, but she did almost lose her balance. And she might have, had she not grabbed the first thing she could to stop herself.

Which was Adrien's arm.

 _Of course that would happen, of course. How cliche could she be?_

She didn't look at his face, she couldn't. But she was already here, so she'd roll with it. She was shivering, but it had nothing to do with the cold. "I-it's f-f-freezing." She stuttered out, clinging to his arm. He was warm, very warm. Even through his jacket, she could feel his firm biceps.

Was he actually warm, or was that just her own rising temperature?

A low chuckle escaped him, rumbling deep in his chest. She could feel it. Oh God, she wanted to-

"It is pretty cold, isn't it?" He said casually. "Do you think it'll snow anytime soon?"

"M-maybe. I hope so, I like the snow."

"Me too. Not too fond on the cold, myself. But if it's going to be this cold anyway, it might as well snow."

She smiled and hummed her agreement. She was so grateful that he kept his cool, as should be expected from someone as stoic and charming and effortlessly bewitching as him, but it allowed them to carry on without any more awkwardness. He was just so casual and level-headed, starting a conversation as if nothing uncomfortable had happened. Which was something she would never be able to do on her own.

Little did she know that he had brought up a random topic to ease his own jitters. And the weather, of all things. He could've smacked himself. Neither Marinette, nor Ladybug had ever made him this nervous before, did it really make that much of a difference now that he knew they were the same person?

Adrien knew how to be charming, the way a rich party host would charm a rich, important dinner guest. He had no idea how to be charming in the way that a man would charm a woman. He faked it as Chat Noir, but he was not Chat Noir right now. He was Adrien, and Adrien needed to pull it together. A difficult task, he found, seeing as how the object of his undying affections clung to his arm like a lifeline. She was shaking like a leaf and he wondered if maybe it was alot colder than he thought, and he was just being kept warm by his own anxiety and underlying embarrassment. He removed his hand from his pocket to hold his arm in a more gentlemanly position, and smiled when he felt her relax and wind her own arm a bit tighter around his, hooking her wrist over his forearm as her own forearm lay in his elbow. He looked down at the hand perched delicately on his sleeve and his heart gave a little skip at the memory of observing those hands and what had come from it.

They walked on, and she gave a small cough, and he realized he didn't know what to say. How far could one really stretch a conversation about the weather, after all? He'd have to improvise.

"So... how was your night? After the attack, I mean."

"Oh, um..." Her voice was soft. The Parisian streets weren't crowded, but there was a bit of hustle and bustle, especially where they were going. It was a Saturday night, after all. "It was... interesting."

He recalled from the previous day how she had been slowly opening up to him, giving vague answers to specific questions. "Yeah?" He pressed.

"Yeah..." She cleared her throat again. "I, uh..."

She paused when they stopped at a crosswalk. He took the opportunity to look over at her, curious as to what she would say. Obviously, she would lie, but he was curious. He noticed that she was red in the face, from the weather or from the memories of the previous night, he'd never know, but she was adorable. Her nose was the reddest part, her lips parted as she was avoiding his gaze. She glanced up once quickly and met eyes with him, but she quickly looked down at their joined arms, and then away again. The light turned at the crosswalk and they continued on.

"I had... a really weird encounter." She said. "... with Chat Noir."

He could've choked. _It's fine, just be cool, Agreste,_ he told himself.

"Really?" He did his best to sound surprised and interested. "A weird encounter, like how?"

"Well, I left my sketchbook at school and he brought it to me at my house-"

"He came to your house?" He was trying to sound shocked, but even to his own ears, he had to admit he sounded alittle rehearsed. But she didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, uh, yeah." She continued. "He uh... he does that pretty often."

He didn't know how he was supposed to feel about her telling him this. He knew already, of course, she was talking about him. But she didn't know that. He knew that Marinette hadn't really told anyone about the visits he sometimes made to her house, because he was a part of her circle. If she was going to tell anyone, she would've told Alya, and Alya would've gone crazy over the knowledge. So why was she telling him this now?

"Ah," he said, faking curiosity. "I think I remember you saying you'd talked to him a few times. So you're friends with both of them, huh? Both him and Ladybug?"

She fidgeted a bit. She looked uncomfortable. "It's... not really something I advertise."

"So why are you telling me?"

It came out sounding a bit sterner than he intended it to, as evident by Marinette visibly shrinking back and curling in on herself ever so slightly, her hold on his arm loosening.

"Y-you... asked about my night..." He heard the regret in her voice and he scrambled to salvage the situation. He did truly want to hear about it, mainly because he wanted to hear what she'd say, not knowing who he was.

"No, no! That's not what I meant, that came out wrong." He said, placing his hand over her's, keeping it on his arm. "I want to hear about it, it's just... you're not usually this open... with _me_." He added the last part hesitantly. It was true and part of him wanted her to know that he noticed.

She relaxed and finally looked over at him, meeting his gaze. She looked a little surprised. She really looked at him, searching his face for something. she wasn't shy or flustered or hesitant. She was observing him. It wasn't the same intense, soul gazing stare that he'd gotten from her before, both as herself and as Ladybug, but even still. He offered a small smile, but it soon fell from his lips as he found himself lost in her eyes again.

He was often watched, it was what he did for a living. His job was literally for people to look at him. He was displayed and ogled and watched. He was a model, meant to look good and portray whatever they told him to. He could fake emotions, he could fake a smile better than he could actually smile. He could portray happiness, heartbreak, excitement, spunkiness, smoulder, all of it. So why was he having such a hard time right now? It was his job to be displayed and watched and looked at. But not really _seen_.

Right now, Marinette was _seeing_ him. She wasn't just looking at him, she was really seeing him. He couldn't fake an emotion knowing that she'd see past it.

As they held their gazes, he saw a blush creep up onto her cheeks and she finally looked away. He was so lost that if she hadn't been holding his arm, he could've easily walked right into something.

"I... I don't know if... you've noticed," she giggled softly. "You probably have, but... I'm not the most... outgoing person." She turned a corner and had to pull him along with her because he wasn't paying attention. She went on, "I'm, uh... I'm trying to open up a bit more. You know, come out of my shell..."

"That's great!" He said eagerly. "I mean, I'm glad. I guess I can only really speak for myself, but... to be honest, even though you've always been super sweet and kind... for a while there, I thought maybe you didn't like me."

She seemed completely taken back by his words, looking over at him with an arched brow and downturned lips. "What? Why would you think that?"

They were nearing the shopping plaza where the theater was, and he knew that once they arrived, they would have to put this conversation on pause. He decided that he just wasn't going to censor himself. He was going to be open and honest with her, just as he had been the night before. He wanted them to be closer, in any way that they could. And the way to do that was to first break down these walls. But he couldn't break them down if he didn't acknowledge them first.

"I've... I've always kind of wanted to get to know you better, but I always got the feeling that you didn't want to..." He searched for the best way to put it. "I mean, I guess I thought that maybe you were just a really private person, which is fine! But whenever I tried to get closer to you, I felt like you wanted me to just mind my own business."

He heard her whisper, _You've got to be kidding me,_ under her breath. The theater was in sight now, as was the benches where they were all to meet up. He was glad to see that they had beaten both Alya and Nino. Marinette's arm slipped out of his as they both took a seat next to each other, and turned her body to face him, folding one leg under herself. She put a hand on his knee.

"I'm so sorry, I never meant to make you feel that way." She said. "It's not that I didn't want to get to know you, I'm just an awko-taco." He was relieved to see how genuinely upset she seemed about it. Perhaps he really had been interpreting her incorrectly the whole time.

But he couldn't help but chuckle. "What's an awko-taco?"

Her face lit up a brilliant shade of red. "A-an awkward taco." She hid her face in her hands and groaned. "See, I'm such an awkward person, that's why I keep to myself! I know I'm just going to embarrass myself, especially around you!"

Her hands, already up to her face, quickly snapped to cover her mouth. She was clearly flustered and normally, he'd find it adorable and endearing. But after the events of the night before, he couldn't help but feel that his alter ego was about to come out to play at the sight of his Lady, red faced and nervous.

"What was that last part?" He said smoothly.

She looked at him a moment longer and she sighed, seemingly defeated. "You said you thought I didn't like you and that I wanted you to mind your business? Well... I always thought that you probably thought I was crazy."

"What? I don't think that at all! Where would you get that idea?"

"Because I feel like I act crazy. Around you. Or, I used to anyway." She looked away, cheeks dusted pink. She wasn't flustered anymore, but he could tell that she was trying to make herself open up, just as she had done the previous day, and she was having trouble with it. "When I'm nervous, I act crazy. I feel like I've gotten alot better about not getting so nervous, but to do that, I kind of... I don't know, keep my distance I guess. It's easy when I'm around other people because I can use them as a buffer-"

"But why would you be nervous in the first place?" Adrien leaned closer, eyes lit up, and he looked ready to soak up whatever she said. He was alot more interested in her answer than she had anticipated.

She couldn't tell him the real reason, of course, so she shrugged and fidgeted and said the first lame excuse she could think of.

"Because you are really intimidating."

 _Cringe_. Why did that have to be the first thing? Why was her filter suddenly gone? Why did she feel like she was fifteen again? Why was Adrien smiling?

"Intimidating?" He said it like he liked the way it sounded, but he was trying to seem surprised. "You think I'm intimidating?"

 _Well, Marinette, you got yourself here, now get yourself out. Despite your astounding ability to get yourself into impossible situations, you're pretty good at getting yourself out. Hell, just yesterday you caught a stick of dynamite out of the air. Cute boys really shouldn't be that much more difficult to deal with._

"I... I did... and I still do a little bit." She bit her lip, feeling her cheeks heat up. His expression morphed, looking less eager but no less interested. "Mainly when I first met you. I mean, you were this new kid, you're rich, you're a model, you got dropped off everyday in a limo, you have a bodyguard, you'd never been to public school before, you're father is my favorite designer, and you were friends with... _Chloe,_ who is the picture perfect definition of a spoiled, entitled rich brat." She couldn't help the sour taste on her tongue at the name of her rival. He nodded a bit as he listened. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't think you're like that. But you know when we first met, we didn't exactly have the best first impressions."

He chuckled, his eyes shining. "Yeah, I'm not good at those."

A breeze pasted by them, swaying his hair ever so slightly, and Marinette forgot what she was going to say next. Adrien was stunning. He had a face that looked like it was hand-carved by Gods, using only the finest of marble. She felt faint. He was looking at her like she was the only thing in the world. His focus was so intense that she swore a plane could crash next to them and he'd barely notice. He'd never looked at her like that before. She would've noticed if he had. Someone else had looked at her like that before though, but she couldn't quite remember. She was too lost in the way his eyes crinkled at the corners from the size of his smile and the way his hair bounced in the breeze. It looked so soft, she'd always wanted to run her fingers through it. There were fairy lights in the trees that were staring to light up, as the sun was setting. The little lights reflected in his eyes, which glistened behind pale lashes.

"Marinette?" He asked, and her own name had never sounded sweeter.

She'd been staring, she knew this. But she couldn't really bring herself to care. "Um..." What had she even been talking about? Oh, that's right. "Yeah... you're intimidating."

He laughed. He must've known she got distracted, for his eyes narrowed knowingly, smile wider than ever. "So... you're intimidated by me because of my lifestyle?"

It was his comment that actually snapped her out of it. "What? N-no, it's just that..." She had actually said more than she intended to say, but no going back now. "I thought you'd be just like Chloe, and then when I found out that you were actually a sweetheart, I was like, wait, so... he's rich, he's a model, he's attractive, _and_ he's a good, kindhearted person?" She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. "What's the catch?"

"You think I'm attractive?"

Her face fell, eyes widening. She stared at nothing for a moment, the gears in her head suddenly filled with gunk and slowly struggling to process what was happening. "What?"

"You said I'm-"

"Wow, Alya and Nino sure are not punctual, huh?" She said a bit too loudly. Her blush had extended from her face, down to her chest and up her ears.

He laughed and placed a hand on her knee. "The catch is, I'm an emotional wreck, wrapped up in a designer bow. I'm a dork and I've got daddy issues. And to be honest, I'm not really good at opening up to people either."

She met his gaze, face glowing by the intensity of her blush. They stared at each other, and he felt that he was the one who was becoming flustered. Then, she smiled. It was a warm smile, the kind that took over her whole face. She was still embarrassed, but it was diminishing.

"My point was, um, that because of... all that, and because I know I'm so awkward... that's why I get nervous and then embarrass myself. And why I was afraid to get close to you."

He rubbed circles on her knee with his thumb. "Well, I'm glad I know that now. I was really worried that you just didn't like me."

"No, I like you." She placed a hand over his.

It didn't sound like a confession. It sounded like reassurance. She didn't blush or stutter or look away. She wasn't tell him that she liked him like that. She was telling him that she didn't _dislike_ him. It's not really what he wanted, but he'd take it. Baby steps, after all.

"I like you too." He said, trying to sound as casual as she had sounded. He succeeded, but that didn't stop the blush from creeping back onto her face. She looked away again, and gave a small squeeze to his hand. He didn't mind the platonic nature of their words. For now, anyway. He cherished any friendships he had, and Marinette was one of his dearest friends when it came right down to it. His best friend, though she didn't know that yet.

And it was an interesting thought, that a Queen like Ladybug could be intimidated by a dweeb like Adrien Agreste.

What were they talking about? They had started talking about something that had lead them here, but what was it? He couldn't remember. He wanted to remember, because he recalled being very interested in what she had to say. He wanted to know what she would share with him, not knowing that he was...

"Oh! So, tell me, what happened with Chat Noir?" He said suddenly.

When he eventually did reveal his identity to her, he'd probably have to answer for this. But he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

The smile she wore was completely wiped from her face as soon as he mentioned his alter ego. In fact, her whole face had gone blank, unreadable. "Chat Noir?" She repeated.

Her dramatic change in expression worried him. "Yeah, you said he... visited you?"

"Oh..." She looked away from him, face still blank. Slowly though, her face started to take shape, forming emotions. It was very subtle, but being able to identify little give aways in the face was part of his modeling training. It was easier to fake a feeling if you knew what it looked like in it's rawest form. He watched as her eyebrows creased slightly, the very corners of her lips turned downward, and her jaw seemed to clench. She was either sad, confused, frustrated, or some combination of those things.

And that did not sit well with him.

He supposed he should have expected something like that, and he couldn't really blame her, but it still hurt. He thought last night had gone extremely well, but if she looked back on it with that kind of expression... did she regret it? He felt the panic boil up in him and she still hadn't said anything. He needed her to start talking, he couldn't be left to assume the worst.

"Um, what's he like?" He asked, a little too eagerly. "I've actually met him before, but I don't really know him. Personally, I think he's super cool, but, um.. yeah, what's he like?"

He felt Plagg nudge him from inside his jacket pocket. He could practically hear the kwami's smug snickering, but that was the least of his worries in that moment.

"Oh, um, yeah, he is." She said softly. Her face softened as she stared thoughtfully at nothing. "He's... he's a peach. He's nothing like the way he looks."

"What do you mean?"

She laughed, and he was relieved to see it. "I mean, looking at him, he looks like a mysterious, tall, dark, handsome stranger, you know? Totally alley cat, and I think that's what he wants people to think. Between you and me, the first time I saw him, I thought he got lost on his way to the anime convention." She stopped to giggle, and he had to join in. He wasn't mad at it, sounded like a pretty accurate description now that he thought about it.

"Anyway," she went on. "That's what he tries to portray, that cool, smooth talking, street wise persona. But really, deep down, he's nothing like that."

Adrien caught himself leaning forward, very eager to hear what she had to say. This was the way she, Ladybug, described him, Chat Noir, to her friends. Basically, this was the way she talked about him behind his back. And his heart was pounding.

"He's a sweetheart. But..." She titled her head to the side with a truly thoughtful expression. She still had her hand on his, and brushed his knuckles with her thumb subconsciously. "I get the feeling he's actually really lonely."

Well, Adrien had not expected to hear that. Not at all. "W-where do you get that idea?"

"Well, I could be wrong about all this, but..." She brought her other hand up to her face, placing a single finger on her lip, pondering. "He just... I don't think he has a very happy home life. He tries really hard, and he's constantly looking for confirmation that he's done a good job. Like he needs validation. He's starved for attention and he craves affection. And when you do give him the attention he wants, his eyes light up and he gets this look on his face. It's hard to explain, but it just seems like that little bit of attention you give him is going to be the only attention he gets that day, and he knows it. All the bravado and ego, it's all show. Like it's just a character he's playing, because that's who he wants to be, that's who he wishes he could be. Underneath it all, he's really sad and lonely and it damn near breaks my heart sometimes. I just want to scoop him up and hold him."

All Adrien could do was stare, wide eyed and jaw slacked and the only coherent thought he could process was ' _Yes, please, hold me_.'

Everything she said had been true. I thought he faked it pretty well, but she completely saw through him. She was able to look past all the bells and whistles, deep down into who he really was. All the flirting, all the showing off, was indeed to hide the fact that he was hurting inside. Or, more accurately, an escape from the hurt inside. He didn't think anybody knew him like that. He didn't think Ladybug paid enough attention to notice anything deeper than face value. Chat Noir was, indeed, a character. And she had just presented him with a completely accurate and in-depth character analysis.

He expected her to maybe say 'Yeah, he's cool but he's annoying', or something like that. He subconscious tightened his hold on her knee.

Marinette wasn't finished though. After pausing to collect her thoughts a bit, she smiled and continued. "You know what I think his best quality is? Despite all that... and again, I might be wrong about everything, but... despite everything," He watched in awe as her eyes glossed over with the most affectionate look, and her smile was warm enough to make his heart skip a beat. "Chat Noir is easily the most selfless person I know. Hands down, no contest. He doesn't get enough credit. He really doesn't. He does so much, so much for everyone else. He'd be the first person to give the shirt off his back for someone. I want so bad for him to be happy. He _deserves_ to be happy. He's so kind and compassionate and just..." She sighed and met his gaze and he felt light headed as his chest swelled. "He's amazing."

God, he wanted to kiss her.

The desire come so suddenly, it nearly knocked the wind out of him. He was so overtaken by emotion that he was having a hard time actually putting thoughts and words together. He'd almost forgotten that he was in his civilian form, and only remembered when caught himself leaning forward again. If he had been in uniform in that moment, he would've kissed her. Grabbed her, kissed her, and then held her as he peppered kisses all over her face. Her words echoed in his head.

That's what Ladybug, _His Lady_ , thought of him. To say he was touched was a gross understatement. That same feeling he had the night before resurfaced. He felt loved. He felt cared for. He looked her over, trying to make heads or tails of her expression. Her cheeks had color, not so much that she looked flustered, but enough that she was glowing. Her eyes were lit up with so much passion, he could tell she meant what she had said. She was dripping in a feeling, an intense feeling. One that he'd never seen on her before, but it looked good. Damn good. She was stunning. He recognized it simply because he knew he'd felt like that before. But feeling it and identifying it were different, and he could not put name to face.

When he didn't say anything, just continued to stare, Marinette seemed to snap out of whatever trance she had been in. She coughed and shrugged. "Heh, that's probably not what you meant when you asked about him, but-"

"How can you tell?"

"Hmm?"

He didn't care if he said too much, secrets be damned, he needed to know. He flipped his hand over and interlaced his fingers with her's, his other hand clasping down on it as well. He didn't miss the rising color in her cheeks.

"How do you know all that just by the way he acts?"

She grinned meekly and glanced away. "I mean, like I said, I could be wrong-"

"I don't think you're wrong." He said, leaning forward a great deal. He watched with fascination as her eyes widened, yet she did not retreat.

"I-it's basic human development, when children don't get enough attention, they act out." She said with a smile. "I think all that... _exuberance_ is his way of silently saying _pay attention to me_! Besides... anyone who acts _that extra_ is trying to hide something."

"You're beautiful."

It slipped out. It was either that, or 'I love you', and he had just enough self control left to choose the safer option.

As soon as it was said though, he realized how odd it must've sounded, especially if Marinette's red, shocked face was any indication. To her knowledge, he just listened to her go on about another man, sing praises of another man. It made no sense in that context, but the reality was she wasn't talking about another man, she was talking about him.

But she still didn't know that, and he knew she didn't _want_ to know that, so he scrambled to cover his tracks.

"Erm, _it's_ beautiful... that you care enough to...um, pay that close attention." He smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. "You really are amazing, Marinette. You're such a good friend. Chat Noir is lucky."

The hand that wasn't tangled in her fingers went to grip her knee again. "I'm lucky too. Th-that you're my friend."

Fuck. That wasn't what he was going for at all. He could've said he was lucky without added the friend thing, he wasn't going for the friend thing! He was so frazzled, he was blurting out whatever to ease the tension that he was probably the only one to feel.

He physically winced at his own awkwardness, and Marinette looked nothing short of confused, with her pursed lips, arched brow, and tilted head. And he couldn't say that he blamed her. He was Chat Noir, he didn't know how to flirt without being overzealous. Subtlety was not his strong suit, not at all. He was trying so hard to _not_ be Chat Noir, flirt with her as Adrien would, and see how she responded. Problem was, he was trying so hard to be subtle with his advances, he was underselling it. He feared he would lay it on too thick, and that fear caused him to not lay it on thick enough. So far, he wasn't even sure if he'd been flirting at all.

He needed to relax and stop over thinking. And although he was happy hearing what she had to say about his alter ego, he needed to shift the conversation away from Chat Noir. God forbid she think he was a Chat Noir fanboy, just like she knew he was a Ladybug fanboy...

Aaaand, yet another thing to blush over.

"I'm, uh... lucky that you're my friend, too." Marinette said a bit awkwardly. It snapped him out of his inner monologue. He smiled, and then realized that he hadn't a clue what to say next. He knew he'd better come up with something fast, because he was sure he looked like a crazy person just sitting there, holding her hand, gripping her knee, smiling like a maniac.

He turned his head to cough onto his shoulder, for no other reason than to have something to do, and to look away from her. Her confused pout was both adorable and distracting. He saw her shift about from the corner of his eye, and nearly squeaked when she shuffled closer to him on the bench, her knee fully pressed against his thigh.

"Are you... okay?" She asked with another tilt of the head.

"Fine! I-I'm fine, totally fine, fine! Why, uh, why... why do you ask?"

 _Idiot_.

She looked him over curiously and he had trouble remembering that it was socially frowned upon to pull a girl into your lap and kiss her senseless in public.

Not that he would do that, because he was a gentleman and she hadn't yet given him the green light, but still, a guy could imagine.

"You seem... uncomfortable..." She said slowly. She retreated in on herself, raising her shoulders and ducking her head down slightly. "Is it... what I said about Chat?"

 _Yes, but not for the reason you think._

"No! No, not at all!" He assured her, rubbing his thumb on her knee. "It's nothing to do with that... well, actually... It's just..."

Well, trying to come up with mindless small talk clearly was not working, nor was he any good at it anyway. He had no idea what to say.

"I... I was just thinking..." He turned to fully face her again. He didn't say anything, he had gone completely blank. He'd hoped that maybe he could come up with something to say when he met her gaze, but the opposite happened. All he managed to do was notice that a lock of raven hair was dancing across Marinette's face. She tried to blow it away a few times, but it returned to tickle her nose. Without thinking, the hand that gripped her knee moved on it's own accord up to her face, where it gently took the strand and tucked it behind her ear, trailing the backs of his fingers along her soft skin as he did so. Her skin was set ablaze by his touch, deep red blooming to life right under his fingertips. He lightly dragged his fingers down her cheek, down to her jaw, and he watched, fascinated, as her eyes widened and she seemed to be doing her best not to retreat.

"We've never.. really hung out... just the two of us." Adrien said as he casually retracted his hand, replacing it on her knee.

"N-not since the video game tournament a few years back." She agrees, but her tone is quiet, almost hesitant.

"I like spending time with you." He smiles, and feels his face heat up again. Even more so when he hears her breath hitch and sees the glimmer in her eyes as she processed his words. The corners of her mouth tugged upwards, attempting a large, goofy smile, but she did her best to tame it. She looked almost starstruck, which he thought funny, considering who she really was.

She looked like she wanted to respond, but the words were stuck in her throat. Her lips moved, forming words but remaining silent, before she was finally able to whisper, "I... I like spending t-time with you, too..."

He was going to say something else, but her gaze snapped over his shoulder and she pulled her hand free from his in an instant, blush still present but glimmer gone.

He was about to inquire if something was wrong when he heard the unmistakable voice of his best friend coming from behind him. "Duuuudes! You're both here!"

Adrien had a very great amount of affection for Nino, he was very near and dear to him, and would always have a special place in his heart as being his first real friend, but never before had he wanted to hit him in the face so bad.

Adrien retracted his hand from Marinette's knee, for no other reason than because she had released his hand first, perhaps fearing the overzealous reaction of her own best friend, who he saw was with Nino and was already looking towards Marinette with a smug look in her eyes. They approached the bench, Alya practically buzzing with excitement, and Adrien had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't because of the movie they were about to see.

Nino and Adrien greeted each other with their standard fist bump as Alya leaned over the back of the bench to embrace Marinette. He heard fast, hushed words being exchanged between them, but he couldn't make them out. He could only guess, based on the way Marinette's face lit up crimson and she shook her head viciously, that Alya had seen them before they saw her.

"You guys ready for this?" Nino asked, drawing the girls' attention. "I'm so pumped, I've haven't seen a movie in forever!"

Marinette chimed in quickly, welcoming a change of topic from whatever Alya had been whispering to her about. "I'm excited, the trailer looked really good."

Alya hummed. "Do we know if this a sequel or a remake?"

"Um... 'spiritual sequel' that could stand as it's own movie I think."

"Did you guys like the original one?"

"I thought the story was cool, but the effects were too cheesy for it to really be scary." Marinette responded. Nino nodded in agreement, and Adrien realized that he didn't actually have any idea what they were seeing.

"Yeah, at the time I guess that's just what they had to work with, but hopefully this one will be better." Alya said, reaching in to her pocket to pull out her cell phone. "By the way, before we go in, you guys have _got_ to see what someone submitted to the Ladyblog last night!"

Adrien felt Marinette tense up next to him, her knee was still pressed against his thigh, but it wasn't obvious enough see. Alya held the phone out in front of them at arms length so they all could see the screen.

Staring back at them was a photo, slightly blurry like the person who took it was moving, but plenty clear enough to see a very focused Ladybug, straddling a clearly panicked Chat Noir.

Alya scrolled down, the next picture was much clearer. It showed Ladybug with a lit stick of dynamite in her hand. Her expression was unseen from the angle the picture was taken, but Chat Noir was wide-eyed and looked like he was shouting something.

"What kind of moron would hang around an area where an akuma was blowing up buildings, just to take pictures?" Marinette said as she looked over the photo. Adrien darted his eyes to her to catch her expression. She wore a look of annoyance, but she couldn't mask the blush that rose upon seeing herself in that position with her partner.

"Seems like something you'd do, Alya." Nino said, elbowing her playfully in the ribs.

Alya was too proud to be annoyed, and simply nodded in agreement. "My blog has got some pretty dedicated readers." She said with a smile. "Wait, there's more."

Adrien heard Marinette whisper ' _Oh God..._ ' under her breath. His own heart skipped a bit, knowing full damn well what had happened next.

Sure enough, as Alya scrolled down, another photo came into view. Seems whoever had taken the photos had moved to a different spot with a better angle. Staring back at them was a photo of Ladybug, with a downright devious look on her face, looking down at Chat Noir.

Adrien hadn't actually thought about how it looked from an outside perspective, he certainly didn't think anyone was around to see when that happened. Ladybug had described his face as 'vulnerable looking', which he thought was fitting, because that's how he felt at the time. But actually seeing it, the look of sheer flustered, eager submission that coated not only his face, but his entire body. The look of his Lady above him, staring down at him with such unadulterated possessive dominance, like he was her next meal. He looked the part too, so helpless and trapped. What's more, he looked so much like he wanted to be there. He was absolutely laying himself before her, so pathetically wanting. He was literally begging her to ravish him. The desire was dripping off both of them. He was suddenly hyperaware that his very Lady who had looked at him like that was sitting right next to him. He once again had a feeling that the identity reveal could still be a dream, because it was hard to imagine that sweet Mari was even capable of such expressions. He was almost afraid to look at her, for fear the memory would prove too much to handle and he would break. He was about to turn to see Marinette's face, when Alya scrolled down again and he near choked and he heard Marinette gasp quietly.

Zoomed in, in all it's HD glory, was a photo of Ladybug, leaning over Chat Noir, her teeth scraping against his jaw. His head was all but thrown back, mouth open mid-moan, eyes fluttered shut. It was sinful looking and naughty and suggestive and absolutely gave off the impression of a more-than-just-professional relationship. If people were thinking that they were a thing already, there was no longer any room to argue.

Adrien usually didn't mind when unflattering photos were published to the Ladyblog, it wasn't that big of a deal. He actually found it funny, seeing as how his other job was to look perfect in front of a camera. But this, this was probably the first time he didn't know that he was totally okay with that being out there on the internet for the world to see.

Not to say he was unhappy that these pictures existed. First thing he did when he got home, he was going to download those pictures onto his computer for his own personal use, but _after_ that, maybe Chat Noir would have a talk with Alya about taking those down.

"Dude, those two are totally fucking." Nino stated unceremoniously.

Adrien nearly lost it.

Alya hummed her agreement. "I bet they have the best, hottest, most passionate-"

"Alya!" Marinette practically shouted. Adrien still couldn't bare to look at her just yet, but she sounded breathless.

"What? It's not a bad thing!" Alya responded, speaking as casually as if they were discussing the weather. "They save the world together all the time, how can they _not_ be into each other? I mean, _look_ at them!" She shoved her phone in Marinette's face to emphasize her point. "Look at this picture and try and tell me there's nothing going on there!"

Nino reached out to tilt the screen towards him. "Seriously," he said. "The sexual tension is _real_. If you told me they started going at it right after this picture was taken, I'd believe you."

"Right?" Alya said, and then took notice of a certain blond who was stubbornly staring straight in front of him and had remained silent. She placed the phone screen right in front of his face. "What do you think, Adrien?"

He was startled back by the sudden appearance of the device in his face, and had no choice but to look at the photo again.

He couldn't be honest and tell them what he really thought, of course, because the truth was, the pure animalistic stance of his Lady combined with the raw vulnerable emotion on his own face... made him feel very hot. In an instant, he was reliving the memory of the events. He perfectly recalled the excitement he felt looking up at his Lady, who looked back down at him with the most inviting eyes and tempting smile. He remembered when his heart jumped when she kissed his cheek, and another part of him jumped when she lingered just long enough to bite his jaw. It caused a spark of want to stir deep within him and he was once again reminded that Ladybug was actually sitting right next to him, her knee still pressed up against his thigh. He wanted so badly to just grab her, look her dead in the eyes and recreate the moment they'd shared the day before. He suddenly felt the need to steady himself and couldn't stop his hand before it reached out to lay upon her knee, as he had done before.

His hand had been settled innocently in his own leg, the journey to Marinette's knee was a short and mostly unnoticed one, the only one who actually realized what he had done being Marinette herself. She looked at him fully, but he couldn't make out her expression because he still couldn't look back at her.

"I think..." He said. "That it sure does look like... _something_ , doesn't it."

It didn't sound like a question. His voice came out awkward and rehearsed. Luckily for him, no one called him out.

"Yeah, _something_. I guess that's what they're calling it now." Nino joked, nudging Adrien's shoulder playfully as he and Alya shared a laugh.

"Sh-should we get tickets now, or...?"

"Oh, shoot Mari, you're right." Alya said, exiting the Ladyblog on her phone to pull up movie times. "The next one is in 20 minutes, but it just came out so let's hurry before all the good seats are taken!"

Alya and Nino started towards the theater, assuming Marinette and Adrien were right behind them. Adrien did not move, nor did he look at Marinette.

"Adrien?"

She didn't sound the least bit affected. He wondered if seeing the images of the two of them in that position did anything for her at all, or if she was just able to hide it much better than him. It probably didn't hurt that she didn't know that Chat Noir was sitting right next to her, too.

"Are you okay?"

 _Say something, idiot._

He finally looked up at her and found that he could not interpret her expression, not for the first time that night. She wasn't smiling, her gaze was soft, but her mouth was tight almost as if her jaw was clenched. She was sitting up more now as well, no longer leaning towards him. His chest tightened, for a completely different reason than before. She was pulling away from him.

"Y-yeah... yeah, I'm okay."

She glanced down at his hand on her knee, and then darted her eyes back up to him. She slowly took hold of it to lift it off her leg so she could stand. She didn't release it right away. "Well, c'mon, let's go."

He forced a smile and stood as well. He tried to wrap his fingers around her's, but her hand quickly slipped out of his grasp before he could. She started after Nino and Alya without another word.

She felt guilty.

First off, she was absolutely going to see to those photos being taken off the Ladyblog, they were borderline obscene. The knowledge that someone had not only witnessed, but also captured what she thought had been a private moment, and then posted it on the internet... she didn't know the word to describe how she felt. Violated? Mortified? Humiliated?

But on the other hand...

She also felt hot, bothered, and she suddenly missed her kitty. Seeing herself in that position with him caused a feeling of raw heat to rush through her, and suddenly he was all she could think about and she had the strongest desire to be on top of him again. His eyes, his lips, his voice... the sound he'd made when that photo was taken, the look of vulnerability as he lay sprawled out beneath her...

The sincerity in his voice when he told her that she was his everything, the look of total heartbreak when he came to see her as Marinette before he knew who she was...

The bliss in his eyes and smile when he realized it was her...

Oh God, she couldn't think about this right now. This was not the time or place.

Had Adrien been trying to hold her hand?

She glanced back at him, he stood completely still. His gaze was locked on her, and sure enough, his hand looked to be just now retracting back from where it hovered in the air when she'd pulled free from it. What had started as a hurried trot to catch up with Alya and Nino slowed down until she stood motionless, looking back at him.

She'd had a brief feeling of guilt wash over her, seeing those pictures and remember Chat and what they'd shared yesterday. Guilt because she was here with Adrien, who had been uncharacteristically affection towards her today.

She'd already told herself that she wasn't going to worry about it, as she wasn't actually dating anyone. She didn't need to feel guilty. She was still figuring things out.

Chat Noir was not here. Adrien was. And she was pretty sure that he was just trying to hold her hand.

"Wh-what's the hold up?" She asked, trying to sound casual.

"Uh... n-nothing." He forced a smile and jogged to catch up with her. As they started after Alya and Nino, their hands brushed each other more than once and Marinette could tell that, yes, he was doing so on purpose. Which meant that he probably was, indeed, trying to hold her hand.

She wished she had the balls to just grab his hand and be done with it, but she couldn't bring herself to for fear of a potentially awkward situation. Perhaps once they were in their seats and the movie had started...

By the time they caught up to their friends, they were inside already purchasing the tickets. Nino was paying for both himself and for Alya. Adrien saw Marinette reach into her pocket, but before she could retrieve any money and as soon as Nino was finished paying, he placed his own credit card on the counter and politely said, "Same movie as them, two please."

The cashier smiled and took his card. He saw Marinette look at him through his peripheral vision, but he continued to just smile at the cashier. She pressed some buttons, swiped his card and handed it back to him. Her eyes darted between himself and Marinette. "You two are a cute couple." She said with a grin as she handed him two tickets.

His first reaction was to say "Thank you!" whether for the tickets or for the compliment, he wasn't sure. Both, he supposed. He wasn't going to correct the ticket girl, but he wondered if Marinette would. He glanced over at her only to see her being grabbed by Alya, who proclaimed they were going to get in the line for popcorn before she dragged her off towards the rather long concession line.

The next thing he knew, Nino's arm was around his neck. "Dude, spill, what's up with you two?"

"Huh, what?" The force of the arm thrown onto him as soon as the girls were out of earshot was enough to throw off his train of thought. He didn't know why he didn't think about it, but he hadn't expected to have to answer any questions like that.

In hindsight, he really should've expected as much. He'd never answered Nino's text the previous day where he had asked what the two of them had talked about when they were alone.

"You and Marinette!" Nino clarified impatiently. "You guys dating finally?"

Adrien felt his cheeks heat up. He wanted to share with Nino, mainly so he could ask for advice because Lord knows, he had no idea what he was doing. But he also knew that Nino would have a hard time not telling Alya, and that was a dangerous game.

But on the other hand, Nino was an understanding guy, and despite his habit of catering to Alya's overzealous tendencies, Adrien thought that if maybe he voiced his concerns, Nino would respect his wishes.

Not that he didn't trust Alya, she was a good friend, but he knew damn well that anything she heard would make it's way back to Marinette's ears. If there was anything to be said about Alya, it was that she was honest, almost to a fault, was an absolute seeker of the truth, had minimal secret keeping ability, and an over-eagerness to 'help'. She was going to be an amazing journalist someday, he was sure.

Point was, learning about his affections from her friend would quickly turn his true love story into a teenage rom-com, and that wasn't what he was going for.

"We're not dating... but..." He started slowly, but then hesitated. Nino picked up on it, and smiled encouragingly. "You have to promise not to tell Alya!"

"Oh, dude..." Nino said, smirk spreading across his face. "Must be juicy if you don't want Alya to know." He gripped Adrien's shoulder and gave it a light shake.

Adrien made a huff to communicate his frustration as they walked to a less busy area in the lobby, next to a pillar, not quite near the concession line where the girls were, but they were in their line of vision. "It's just... I mean... you know she can't keep a secret! ...A-and I-"

Nino chuckled. "Relax, Bro, I'm picking up what you're putting down." He said with a wink. "Besides, whatever it is that you don't want me to tell her, I'm sure she's pressuring it out of Marinette right now." He nodded his head towards the line.

Adrien followed his gesture and saw the girls, and though they were too far to hear them, Alya's wide, bright eyes and excited bouncing, combined with Marinette's red cheeks and defensive hand gestures said it all. They were clearly in the middle of similar conversation, looking more like an interrogation than anything else.

"Man, Alya really is merciless, isn't she?" Nino continued. "Poor Mari doesn't stand a chance."

"Well, I don't know what Alya is expecting to get out of her, but what I want to tell you... she doesn't know."

Nino looked away from the girls to meet his friend's gaze. "Say what?"

"Don't tell Alya." He drew in a breath through his nose, and released it through his mouth. "I have a crush on Marinette."

Nino didn't look surprised at all. Just confused. "But... you're not dating?"

Adrien shook his head, which caused more confusion to pass over Nino's face. "Um... Why not?"

"Dude, it's not that simple!" Adrien looked back over towards the girls.

"What do you mean, it's not that simple?" Nino looked back and forth between Adrien and Marinette. "It's super simple. You like her, she likes you, you ask her out, she says yes. Simple."

Adrien gave a humorless chuckle. He wished it were that simple, but of course Nino didn't know about the whole secret identity thing. The whole situation was way more complicated than that. Technically, he was his own romantic rival. He knew her secret identity, she didn't know his. She had no idea that Adrien was the same person that all yesterday's drama had happened with. She'd told Chat Noir she had feelings for him, not Adrien. Ladybug and Chat Noir shared something incredible, but Marinette and Adrien were just starting to get to know one another at more than just a surface level.

Maybe he was overthinking it, maybe he was making it more complicated than it needed to be, but no matter how he looked at it, he just couldn't imagine it being as simple as Nino described.

"What if she doesn't like me, though?" Insecurity leaked into his voice. That was his main fear after all. He'd started to feel a bit more confident talking to Marinette on the bench earlier, but she still didn't know his secret and he couldn't shake the fear that she would be disappointed.

Nino, on the other hand, now looked to him like he was stupid. "You're... you're kidding, right?"

"Oh, c'mon, man!" Frustration crept into Adrien's voice. "What, am I just supposed to assume that any girl I like has to like me back?"

"No, but that _particular_ girl has had a crush on you since freshman year." Nino said completely monotone. "Did... did you _seriously_ not know that?"

Nino said it like it was common knowledge, like the truest truth there was, but Adrien's first thought was that Nino was either sorely mistaken, or was trying to be supportive and encourage him. Adrien happened to know for a fact that Marinette...

Wait.

Adrien had _thought_ that Marinette didn't like him, but they had literally just had a conversation about that before Alya and Nino showed up. During that same conversation, Marinette had said that she thought he was attractive. And she seemed completely floored to learn that he thought she didn't like him.

Could it be...?

Nino continued, oblivious to Adrien's inner musings. "I mean, I didn't know until Alya told me, granted I didn't really pay attention, but then it became painfully obvious. She's gotten alot better about it, but she used to get so nervous, she'd stammer and trip over herself whenever you were around." He chuckled. "In hindsight, it was kind of endearing-"

"But, wait..." Adrien interjected. "We talked about that, and she told me that she got nervous around me because she was intimidated by me."

"And why would she be intimidated by you if she didn't like you?" Nino answered with a laugh. He leaned against the pillar casually. "Seriously, dude, why do you think Alya's so hellbent on trying to set you guys up?"

"I thought it was because... of you two... she wanted us to go on double dates and stuff..."

"Well, that's part of it, I guess. I mean, what do you call _this_?"

Was this a date?

He looked back over to the girls to see that they were almost through the snack line. Nino began walking towards them and pulled Adrien along after him. "You paid for her ticket, dude." Nino said with a wink over his shoulder as they approached the girls. "That makes this a date. Like I said before. Simple."

They caught Marinette and Alya in the middle of discussing what kind of snacks they should get for the group of them. They had clearly seen them coming and changed their topic on the fly. Marinette's face was still beat red from whatever they had been talking about.

"We usually go through a medium popcorn with just two of us, would a large be enough for four?" Marinette was saying.

Alya hummed in contemplation before acknowledging Nino and Adrien walking up to them. "Well, boys, thank you for joining us. Where did you two skirt off to?"

Nino gave her a knowing smirk and said, "I'm pretty sure we were having similar conversations."

The devious smile that spread across Alya's face told Adrien that Nino was right.

Marinette either wasn't paying attention, or was making a conscious decision to ignore what was being said, as her gaze remained up at the concession menu. "We could do the combo with two mediums and two drinks and just share, that's cheaper anyway..."

"Yes, let's do that!" Alya said enthusiastically, and then looped her arm through Nino's as they made their way to the counter. "What drink do you want to share with me, Nino?"

"Wait, wha...?" Marinette muttered.

"I hope you like Diet Coke, Adrien, that's Marinette's favorite."

"Oh, uh..." Adrien suddenly regretted saying anything to Nino. Of course he could've have said anything to Alya already, but they clearly had their own set of verbal cues and it was starting to happen. Alya was trying to 'help'.

He didn't mind sharing a drink with Marinette of course, but she was just starting to feel comfortable around him, he didn't want her to feel overwhelmed and start to pull away. She already looked like she was going to burst from what she and Alya had talked about, whatever it was.

"If you don't want to share, I can just get another one." He offered.

She looked up at him with pink cheeks, then looked to Alya. The two of them shared a silent exchange, with Marinette shooting her a pout and Alya responding with a smirk and a wink. Marinette looked at her best friend for a moment longer with narrow eyes, and then seemed to accept defeat. She drew in a deep breath through her nose, and then released it in a heavy sigh.

When she met Adrien's gaze again, she wore a mixture of resignation and determination. "I hope you like Diet Coke, because that's my favorite."

He smiled. "That's my favorite, too."

That was a lie. He never drank soda. His father didn't allow 'junk food' in the house. He wasn't sure if he'd ever even had Diet Coke.

Marinette tried to pay for their snacks, but Adrien didn't let her. Both he and Nino gave their cards and asked the cashier to split it down the middle. Marinette initially tried to protest, but quickly realized it was useless, so she just huffed as she and Alya took the popcorn to the butter station.

"Dude, a couple things." Nino said to Adrien, grabbing him by the shoulder to stop him from following. "You're doing good on this, but don't let her pay for anything tonight. If she does, she might argue that this isn't a date. Second, this is a scary movie so you'll probably end up holding her hand. Make sure the hand closest to her isn't covered in butter, eat with the other one."

"Wow, I wouldn't have even thought of that." Adrien said back. "Thanks, man."

"I got your back, bro." He said as they headed over. "I learned that one the hard way."

The four entered the theater and found it much more crowded than they would've liked. As was to be expected, they reasoned, as it was opening weekend to a highly anticipated horror movie remake.

After some searching, they were finally able to locate four open seats next to each other. Adrien took the first, then Marinette, then Alya and Nino. They shed their coats as they settled into their seats, and Adrien felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Confused, he retrieved it and saw a text from Nino. He looked to his friend to see him holding his phone, screen open to their messages. Why in the world would he text him when he was right here?

(1 New Message From Nino)

 **-One more thing I forgot to ask. Have you guys kissed yet?**

Oh. That's why.

Technically, the answer was yes. But he couldn't tell Nino that.

 **-No we haven't.**

 **-Okay, then bare in mind Mari likes scary movies so don't try to kiss her during UNLESS she tells you that she thinks the movie is boring.**

 **-…I'll keep that in mind.**

 **-Save it for a romantic good night kiss! (; This IS a date after all!**

Now there was something he hadn't pondered. He wasn't planning on kissing her, he hadn't even thought about it. But he also hadn't considered this being a date until recently. With the possibility suddenly presented to him, his mind started reeling. He wasn't ready, he knew that, but would he really reject the opportunity if it was presented to him? It seemed too soon and what about-?

"Do you like scary movies?"

Marinette's quiet voice broke him from his thoughts.

"Oh, um…" He honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd seen one. "I don't really watch alot of scary movie, but I don't _dis_ like them."

She smiled as she slid down in her chair, pulling her knees up to her chest to get comfortable. He noticed that as she curled up, she leaned her body more towards him. "I love scary movies. But I startle really easily." She chuckled. "Not that that's a big surprise."

He smiled warmly. He'd never been on a date before, and he still wasn't sure if he could call this a date. He didn't know what it was supposed to feel like, but as the lights dimmed and the big screen lit up, he leaned closer to her and felt like everything was exactly as it should be. He felt warm and happy and was very glad that Alya had invited them all out tonight.

Trailers for upcoming movies started to play and he had to lean in fairly close to hear what she was saying.

"Tell me what is it we're seeing again?" He said to her, trying to speak loud enough for her to hear him without disturbing the people around them. "I haven't actually heard of it before."

"Oh," she responded and turned her torso to face him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke low against his ear. "Basically, the story is-"

The trailer that was playing was very loud, so he couldn't really hear her after that. But even if he could, the feelings of her breath on his neck was far too distracting. He picked up a few words, like "… demon witch thing…" and "… haunted woods…"

He nodded along, as if he heard every word. She finished explaining just as the current trailer was ending and he was able to hear her say, "….. anyway, I am _so_ excited for this." He glanced over and caught sight of her wide smile. "I can't believe you've never heard of this, the original was like a cult classic!"

She was starting to act like her normal, comfortable self, and as the trailer ended and another began, and a thought struck him.

He didn't quite know how to describe it, but he was now realizing that the fact that Marinette and Ladybug were the same person hadn't really sunk in for him. He knew it in his head, had confirmed it with her via phone, but he hadn't any actually visual confirmation. It hadn't yet been made real. Maybe it was the nerves getting to him, or the fear that everything that had happened the night before could still be a dream, but he needed proof. Real, physical proof. He needed to see something. To prove to himself that he wasn't crazy, if nothing else.

Up until this point, he realized, he had kind of been on auto pilot. He'd sought out her attention because he knew in his head that she was His Lady, but as he looked over at her now in the flickering lights from the screen, he saw Marinette. That wasn't a bad thing, not at all, but when he recalled that the young woman before him was actually Ladybug, he still found himself in a state of disbelief.

Well…. He could worry about that later. For now, he should focus on just enjoying himself. He already felt that he and Marinette had become closer tonight, broken down some walls that had been between them. He was on the right track, and he shouldn't expect everything to happen at once. It would take time for the bond they had as Ladybug and Chat Noir to translate to Marinette and Adrien.

But it did give him something to look forward to.

He'd forgotten he had a bucket of popcorn in his lap until she reached over to take some, quickly snapping him back into reality. After the trailer on the screen faded to black, she leaned closer to him and whispered, "That one looked really good."

"Yeah, it did." He whispered back. He hadn't really been paying attention to it.

He did his best to focus on the screen in front of him for the remainder of the trailers, only getting slightly distracted every time her hand appeared just below his line of vision to take another piece of popcorn.

As the movie started, he found it much easier to ignore the thoughts that kept popping into his head. The story so far was very interesting and he thought about maybe inviting Marinette over to his place to watch the original together. Would she go for that? And if she agreed, what then? It would be so late by the time it was over, would she stay the night? Should he make a move? Kiss her? Reveal his identity? What if she didn't react well?

What if she _did_?

 _Just watch the movie, Agreste,_ he scolded himself, fidgeting in his seat. He knew damn well it was too early for all that.

This movie was good. As he watched on, he found himself getting more invested in the story and characters. A group of teenager were camping out in the woods, the same woods where one guy's sister had disappeared a year before. After someone in the group had wandered off to investigate a strange sound, there was a scream in the darkness and his friends scrambled off to find him. Adrien felt himself tense up. The group ended up getting split up and it seemed that something else was out there with them. Adrien didn't watch alot of scary movies, but he pretty sure his should brace himself for a jump scare.

"I'm just gonna…." He heard Marinette say from beside him and saw her hand nervously inching toward his. "…take this."

She snatched his hand up and jumped right as the camper on screen was attacked, and Adrien was embarrassed by the yelp he made. He squeezed her hand tightly as they watched the camper try to flee the unseen monster. Marinette held their joined hands up over her face and leaned heavily against his shoulder. He wish he could say he enjoyed it, and he did, but he was far too engrossed in the film now to overthink anything.

They kept their grip on each other. Every time a jump scare happened, Marinette would hide behind their hands and sometimes even make a startled squeak. Adrien had never know himself to be a jumpy person, but this film was bringing it out of him. The tension had him so stressed out that every little thing made him jump. They finally reached a point in the film where some plot was happening, which promised no jump scares for at least a bit. Marinette untangled herself from him to stretch herself out, as all the scares had her curled up in a tight ball at Adrien's side. He also took the time to crack his knuckles and flex his hand a few times. Marinette saw this and chuckled.

"Sorry." She whispered.

"No, it's fine." He responded with a chuckle.

As they settled back in, he lay his hand on the arm rest between them, wanting her to take it, but not yet brave enough to take her's first.

She noticed this. She couldn't believe how well this was going. She hadn't lost her nerve once. She was able to take his hand without any issue, a feat that never would've been possible only a few months ago. And unless she was imagining things, he seemed to be wanting her to do it again.

She didn't, however. In a quick act of boldness, she gently laid her head on his shoulder. She tried to do so without much shuffling to avoid any potential awkwardness, but found that this left her neck tilted in an uncomfortable position.

He smiled and lay his hand on her knee. Marinette seemed to be really warming up to him. Such physical contact was completely new territory for them, and for her to be the one to initiate it was a pleasant surprise. He began to feel hot behind his neck, despite the cool temperature in the theater. The reality of their position dawned on him. It was dark. Even though they were surrounded by people, no one was watching them. She was snuggled up next to him, and he had the strangest suspicion that she was anxious about something. He felt her twitch about like she was trying not to move but couldn't help it.

She nuzzled closer to him and lay a hand on his sleeve. Now he was sure, she had nervous energy about something. His mind began racing over what it could be. But before he could even come up with a theory, she lifted her head from his shoulder, her hand traveled from his forearm to his bicep and she gave his sleeve a tug. She was trying to get his attention. She wanted him to turn towards her.

She wanted to kiss him.

His heart rate increased tenfold and his face caught flames. He was sure that's what she wanted, he could feel how close she was. As soon as he turned to look at her, her lips would be mere inches away. He was looking straight ahead of him and it was too dark to see her from his peripheral. He wanted to kiss her, but being so close to the reality of it caught him off guard. He froze up.

She tugged his sleeve again, more insistent this time.

He was taking too long. If he didn't move now, she was going to think he was rejecting her and she'd withdraw all affection and her walls would go right back up. In that moment, his mind went blank. He forgot about pursuing her as Chat, he forgot about taking things slow, he forgot everything except that she was there now and she was tugging on his sleeve and she wanted to kiss him.

He turned towards her, his best smoldering model look in place, leaned in, lips pursed….

Only to find that she wasn't even facing him.

He damn near bumped into the back of her head. In fact, she might've felt his breathing on her hair. She was facing toward Alya and Nino, whom Adrien now saw and now understood why she was trying to get his attention.

Adrien had never seen two people making out quite as vigorously as the two of them were now. With no shame, in front of God and everyone. He'd known that they had a thing between them, but Nino had never told of things like…. _that_ happening. Nino's fingers tangled in Alya's hair and Alya almost seemed to be trying to jump over the armrest separating their bodies and the passionate between them made Adrien wonder what else they had done and it would be a lie to say he wasn't a bit curious, very shy, and the smallest bit jealous.

Marinette was less amused. She reached down to the tub popcorn that had been placed between their feet during the scary parts and retrieved a handful of it. Leaning back against Adrien once more, she started throwing the kernels, one at a time, at the back of Alya's head.

Nino was the one to notice, as a piece hit the back of his hand. He broke the kiss to shoot Marinette a questioning look. Alya, confused as to what had interrupted them, followed his gaze and turned to see their best friends staring at them. Nino seemed a bit embarrassed, Alya was annoyed at the interruption.

"You are missing the movie!" Marinette whispered.

"I'm more interested in something else right now." Alya responded. "It's fun, you should try it." And with that, she turned to Nino once more, who was more than eager to receive her.

Marinette made a scoff sound, trying to sound annoyed, but the truth was that she was about three seconds away from a freak out and was trying brush it off.

She was about ninety-six percent sure that Adrien had just tried to kiss her.

She had tugged his sleeve with the intention of him seeing what their friends were up to, but did he think she had wanted something else? She felt him, clear as day, lean in and brush the back of her head. She could feel his breath on her ear. She heard him make a small sound of surprise and stop suddenly when he'd gotten too close.

He was currently stiff as a board, staring mechanically in front of him up at the screen. He was so much more relaxed a moment ago. This added to Marinette suspicion. What was she going to do now? If he tried again, would she let him? And then what? What about Chat?

Marinette, she told herself firmly, stop thinking. Watch the movie. Let's just see where this night takes us.

She wrapped her arm around his and hid her face behind his shoulder just as another jump scare burst forth from the screen.

…

 **So this took awhile, but honestly I had wanted to write the whole night as one chapter, but it got too long. This chapter gave me some trouble but I think it might be my favorite one so far.**

 **More chapters coming soon!**


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